What's Yours is Mine
by thoth-moon
Summary: Kurama came back from a night with Yusuke with more than he thought. Sequel to Had Things Been Different. HieiKurama, mention of YusukeKurama.
1. Chapter I

Okay, I have to make this quick right now (I'm in class--we learn much in Calculus, yes?), but I promise to come back and give this story a proper introduction at the beginning of chapter two. Until then, (hopefully) enjoy.

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter I  
May 4, 2007

"The food here sucks," Shuichi complained. "And I keep worrying that if I move my arm wrong, that"—he pointed to the IV—"will rip out."

Kurama smiled. "It appears to be long enough that you can move comfortably and be fine. However, if you drank enough water to begin with, we wouldn't have to be here now."

Shuichi scowled at the admonition. "Easy for you to say—you and Hiei have air conditioning!" The air conditioner in the Hatanaka house had broken a few weeks before, and as the summer swelter failed not to remind them, it had not been repaired yet.

"Whining won't hydrate you and quicker," Kazuya said. "And Shuichi's right, especially if you plan to continue baseball." After a moment, he added in a low tone, "I'll try to sneak you back a shake. Don't tell your mother." He waited at the door while his step-son gave Shuichi a few books for if boredom set in, and then the two left after promising that they would return later with Shiori. "And I don't mean to lecture _you_," Kazuya told the redhead.

"But you will?" Kurama said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shiori will probably ask. You look like you're ill. You've grown paler every time I've seen you lately."

Kurama shrugged. "I'm perhaps a little under the weather," he admitted. "I think it might be the heat."

"What are you feeling?"

He shrugged again. "Tired, mainly. Sometimes I feel dizzy, or nauseous, which could be a by-product of the dizziness." Kazuya frowned. "I'll of course make a doctor's appointment if it persists," he added hastily.

They were going to meet Shiori in a half-hour for dinner and then return to the hospital. Until then, they went to Kurama's apartment to take shelter from the heat. "Isn't it wasteful to have it running while you're out?" Kazuya chided as they stepped inside, referring to the air conditioner.

Kurama sat down his briefcase. He and his step-father had gone straight from work to the hospital after hearing that Shuichi had collapsed at baseball practice. "It wasn't on this morning," he replied, which mean that they either had an indiscreet intruder …

"Where have you been?"

Or that Hiei had come home. "The hospital," he answered. "My brother's dehydrated."

Hiei noticed the Fox's complexion. "Are you sick?"

Kurama considered Kazuya's presence. "Not really," he said carefully.

However, Hiei apparently didn't consider Kurama's step-father a liability. "What does 'not really' mean?" the Koorime pressed.

"It means, I haven't had a temperature, so … not really."

Kazuya observed the exchange in amusement. It'd been only a month and a half before that Shuichi had sat him and Shiori down, and nervously announced that not only was he dating another man (this had been quite a shock: they hadn't considered _that _a reason for the boy's disinterest in the female class mates that practically tripped over themselves around him), but that he was also engaged to have a commitment ceremony with this man; for whatever reason, Shuichi and the man—a rather petite yet foreboding-looking youth named Hiei, who possessed a most unusual surname, but no family that shared it—desired a hasty execution of the ceremony, and it took place a mere two weeks later. No one in the Hatanaka family had gotten a chance to know Shuichi's new "husband" well yet, as he didn't emit and extraordinarily warm person, but it'd already become quite clear that Hiei took his spousal role very seriously.

Hiei appraised Kurama, looking him up and down carefully. There was the slight weariness in his mate's face, and … something else, which he couldn't properly identify; however, aside from that—and a currently annoyed expression—the Fox appeared fine. "Hn," he finally conceded.

'You do have your thick moments,' Kurama thought exasperatedly. He didn't want Kazuya to think that anything might be seriously wrong, and then voice those concerns to his mother. But he afforded Hiei a small, forgiving smile, and said: "We're meeting Mother for dinner. Do you want to come?"

The Koorime frowned. He'd only returned from Alaric earlier that afternoon, and wanted some "alone time" with Kurama … but he also suspected that Kurama wasn't being entirely truthful when he claimed to not be sick, and wanted a chance to inconspicuously observe him, which dinner with his parents should allow. "Where at?"

However, his observation time was cut short. Almost immediately after their food arrived, Hiei noticed that Kurama's complexion had adopted a faintly green tint, and his meal was untouched. "You aren't eating," he said, quietly so that no one else would hear.

Kurama sighed. "I'm sorry." Try as he might, he couldn't hold an appetite. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I'm tired."

"What?" Shiori had overheard. "Shuichi, if you feel tired, perhaps you should go home and rest. Have you been drinking enough water?"

"Yes," he murmured, downing his glass for emphasis. "Tell Shuichi that I'm sorry."

After wrapping up Kurama's dinner for him to eat later, he and Hiei left his parents and returned to the apartment. "How long have you felt this way?" Hiei asked.

"About a week," he answered. "Well, perhaps a little longer." He shrugged. "I know it's not dehydration or the flue, I'm relatively sure it's not stress-related—What?" Hiei was staring at him contemplatively.

The Koorime appeared hesitant. "Have you—?" He averted his gaze from Kurama. "Have you … considered asking Yusuke…?"

Kurama blanched. A few weeks before their commitment ceremony, and the night before Yusuke's and Keiko's wedding, he and Yusuke had slept together. Hiei had know, but to Kurama's surprise, forgiven it without a single bitter word. (Still, he suspected that Hiei's sudden desire afterward for a commitment ceremony had been the latter's way of trying to keep him from seeking other bedfellows—not that he would have.) This was the first direct reference to the event that Hiei had ever made. "Do you mean, if perhaps _he _… made me ill?" he asked weakly. Hiei nodded, looking very uncomfortable. "But—that _can't _be," he objected, remembering. "We used a condom …" Even as he said it, his eyes grew wide, and he clenched his teeth. This had to be insulting to Hiei, his talking about _that._

Hiei stared at the floor, his face turning pink, and then red. From embarrassment or anger, the redhead wondered. "E-Even if you did," he mumbled, "I think that you should still …" He trailed off.

A horrible thought hit Kurama: If Yusuke _had _somehow given him something, then Keiko might have it, too—_and so could Hiei._

Within the past minute, Hiei noted, the Kitsune had turned several distinct shades paler. "Kurama?" he asked uncertainly, but his companion walked past him.

"I need to speak with Yusuke," Kurama said, reaching for the phone. "Now."

* * *

"… Do I have _diseases_?" Yusuke repeated, bewildered.

"Yes," Kurama confirmed.

"Wh-What sort of question is that?!"

"Just tell me if you know," he said urgently. "I've been feeling sick, and—the thought came to mind." Silence on the other end of the line. "I know that we used a condom, but—What?" Yusuke's silence had been replaced by a strangled gasp. "_What_, Yusuke?"

"Uh … well—it was the first time I'd ever bought them, but, um, I think I got the wrong size. When I was doing it with you, it, um, it broke."

Hiei widened his eyes: the color had just drained out of Kurama's face.

The Fox's stomach twisted; he suddenly remembered the sensation of Yusuke's semen leaking between his legs … "Why didn't you tell me?!" he hissed into the phone, though for that matter, why hadn't he noticed, himself?

"Well, enough stuff was happening right then," Yusuke said uneasily. "I mean, things were a little hectic. I didn't think—Kurama, are you okay?"

"… Kurama?" Hiei asked worriedly. His mate had grown extremely tense.

"… If you gave me something," Kurama told Yusuke, his voiced wounded, "Keiko and Hiei could have it, too." Silence again on the other side. "I think that you and I should go to a clinic," he managed.

"What, you mean like the free clinic?"

His face felt hot. Shuichi Minamino, have to go to a free clinic … "Not quite. We'll have to go to a Makai clinic."

"Why the Makai?"

"They'll have to run blood tests, and you and I are both demons."

"Good point …" Yusuke cleared his throat. "Kurama, I'm really sorry about the condom—"

"Let's think optimistically for now, Yusuke," Kurama interrupted softly.

He was even tenser by the time he hung up, Hiei noticed. "You have to go to the doctor."

Kurama nodded, and gave him a sober look. "If it comes back positive …"

Hiei shrugged. "Whatever happened to thinking optimistically? Besides, _I _don't feel sick. This is just taking all possible precautions." Despite that, he was beginning to feel guilty for putting the idea in Kurama's head to begin with. His mouth twitched into what he hoped resembled a reassuring smile. "Whatever happens, I did promise, 'In sickness and in health' …"

* * *

Kurama had refused Hiei's offer to accompany him to the clinic, though he'd appeared so nervous that Hiei almost decided to join him regardless. If possible, the Fox seemed even more anxious after returning. Yusuke would receive both their test results in a few days, he said, and then bring his over.

Hiei had finally gotten Kurama to wind down and go to bed, had joined him, and had fallen asleep—only to wake up some time later, gasping, with a pain in his stomach. "Hn—_Ah_!" It was Kurama, kicking him. "What…?" His mate appeared to be scrambling over him, over the bed; Hiei stared at the spectacle, and winced as his friend hit the floor. The fall didn't seem to deter Kurama, who continued to scurry across the floor. "Are you o—?" The Fox had apparently found what he wanted, the trash can, and practically crushed it to him. Hiei pulled a face as Kurama began to puke into it. "—kay?" He glanced at the clock: a little after five. "Kurama, should you stay home?"

"Nuh—_Oh_!" the Kitsune groaned; he wasn't done. Hiei narrowed his eyes in disgust. "… No," Kurama repeated breathlessly. "I'll be fine. I'm going to work."

The Jaganshi watched him, brows furrowed with concern. Throwing up wasn't a good sign. Various ailments began running through Hiei's mind: ulcers, cancer, AIDS … He shook it off, and jumped out of bed. "Kurama," he called after the Fox. He glanced into the now-stinking trash can as he passed it. No blood, at least. "Should you rest?" he asked his mate, who was now in the bathroom, rinsing his mouth at the sink.

He received a shake of the head. "I doubt that location will affect what ails me," Kurama said. "I can feel bad here while accomplishing nothing, or I can feel bad at work while, hopefully, accomplishing something. And there I can keep busy …" A troubled look darkened his face. He quickly disguised it, but not quickly enough for Hiei. "I'll call you during the lunch hour, if that's more agreeable."

* * *

"I'm feeling much better," Kazuya heard Shuichi say. "Yes, it's all staying down. Yes. See you tonight."

His step-son's door was slightly ajar; he could see the redhead hanging up the phone. He knocked on the door. "Shuichi." The younger man promptly greeted and admitted him. "Are you well?" he could not help but ask. Shuichi gave him a perplexed look. "I heard—Never mind." He'd already made his concerns known, and now it really was none of his business. He cleared his throat. "It's too hot for the kitchen. We're planning to barbecue on Saturday. Can you and Hiei come?"

Kurama hesitated for a second, but nodded. His results should have arrived by Saturday; good news or bad, there would be no what ifs to interfere with spending time with his family. "That sounds great—and because I know you'll still mind it regardless, I felt sick—physically sick—this morning, but as you may have heard, it's passed."

Kazuya gave him a sheepish smile. "Well, I hope it's passed for good, but there's not shame in recuperating if you feel ill."

"I'm fine," Kurama said hurriedly, hoping that he would not have to soon eat his words.

* * *

Hiei greeted an nervous-looking Yusuke at the door. "Uh … is Kurama around?"

"He's asleep," the Koorime replied.

"So early?"

He shrugged. "He felt tired." He spied an envelope clutched in Yusuke's hand. "Are those his test results?"

"… Yeah," Yusuke managed. Had Kurama told…?

"May I have them?" Hiei asked brusquely. Yusuke mutely complied. "Are you diseased?"

"What?!"

"Don't act so outraged—I suggested that he ask you to begin with."

The brunette stared at him. 'So Kurama must have,' he concluded. And then something struck him, and he gave the shorter demon a contemptuous look. "Wait, why did you assume that _I _gave him something? How are you so sure that it wasn't you?"

"Because I don't confuse my sex life with a buffet," Hiei retorted.

"Yeah, well he must just have the flu or something," Yusuke countered, "because _I'm clean_." Hiei glowered at him, and placed the envelope on the table. "What, you're not going to open it?"

"It's Kurama's, not mine." Yusuke was wearing on his nerves. Unfortunately, the Detective didn't seem intent on leaving just yet, and was gawking at him. "What?"

Yusuke gave him an apprehensive look. "Kurama told you about…?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I know what happened," he said flatly. "_Everything _that happened." A smirk, discreet but triumphant, possessed his lips as Yusuke turned slightly pink, as "everything" included the fact that it had been _his _name, not Yusuke's, that Kurama had cried.

"Uh, yeah," the brunette mumbled. "Um, but—You didn't, um, do anything to him when you found out, did you? I mean, I sort of pressured him into it …"

His smirk grew more pronounced. "Heh—I've never done anything intimate to Kurama that he didn't enjoy."

The look on Hiei's face was beginning to give Yusuke the creeps. "Um, good, uh, I guess." He chewed his lip. "Uh, tell me, if he's all right…?"

"I'm sure Kurama will tell you," Hiei replied, his tone saying, I could care less about your guilt and your peace of mind.

His indifference irked Yusuke, but the brunette reminded himself that, since Hiei did know, he should probably consider himself lucky that he hadn't suffered a katana through his crotch yet. "…Good. And Hiei, I do hope that he's … all right."

* * *

Kurama rolled over, stretching, rubbing his eyes groggily.

"You're awake."

He opened one eye. Hiei stood in the doorway. "Yeah," he yawned, stretching. "How long did I sleep?"

"The entire night."

Both eyes opened. "_What?_" He'd only meant to take a nap.

"I was going to wake you," Hiei said defensively. "But I received a recommendation from your boss that I let you rest."

"Kazuya should really watch himself," Kurama grumbled, "lest he be accused of nepotism." He winced. The stomach pain was back.

Hiei noticed. "Perhaps he's right in this case."

"Are you defending a human?" Kurama demanded grumpily.

"Yusuke brought your test results by last night," Hiei told him, changing the subject. "They're on the table."

He glanced into the kitchen, immediately seeing the white envelope, practically glowing against the wood in the early morning light. "Have you opened…?" Hiei shook his head. Kurama quickly dressed, and after contemplating but deciding against breakfast, he came to the table and studied the envelope. "Yusuke plus envelope equals disaster,' he thought warily. This was exaggerated, but mildly true. He really didn't want to open it, but Hiei was eyeing him expectantly, and if the news in the envelope was less than good, he supposed it was best to know earlier versus later …

Hiei noted Kurama's shaking hand as the latter picked up the envelope. "Yusuke said he was clean," he offered. The redhead responded with a half-hearted smile.

The envelope was open. Kurama took out the enclosed paper, unfolded it—and turned sheet-white. "What is it?" Hiei asked nervously. His mate did not wear the look of someone who has just been cleared, so to speak. The Koorime didn't receive an answer. "What's wrong?" he persisted.

Kurama sat down, gave Hiei a helpless look, and whispered: "P-Positive."


	2. Chapter II

This chapter's a little shorter, but I don't think it ends with any obnoxious cliffhanger—and we start out right away addressing last chapter's "mystery," so maybe that makes up for it.

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter II  
June 1, 2007

"_What?_" Hiei snatched the paper from him, and then stared at the results. His face lost all expression, and an awkward silence hung over the kitchen. He finally coughed, and gave Kurama a badly-feigned nonchalant look. "These are wrong," he muttered, shrugging. "They must have mixed yours up with another patient's. This is impossible."

"Not—." Kurama swallowed. "It's not _entirely _out of the realm of possibility." Hiei stared at him. "It … can happen," he elaborated shakily. "Rarely, very rarely, but it _can_—But, I never knew …"

Hiei had trouble digesting what Kurama was trying to explain. "Your body's human," he objected. "Humans can't—"

"Well, I evidently _can_, because according to this paper, I _am_!" He ran a hand though his hair nervously. "An—An alteration … Regaining youki may have triggered a physical alteration, causing the human body to conform to the yoko energy—that is feasible—Oh, I am going to _kill _Yusuke!"

Hiei bristled. "How do you know it's Yusuke's? What if it's mine?"

"I don't know," Kurama replied quietly. He rested his head on the table, his hair concealing his face. His hands, Hiei noticed, were clenched into fists.

"… Are you going to work today?" Hiei inquired. It was stupid to ask, but the quiet made him uncomfortable.

"I don't know!"

Kurama's voice hadn't grown louder in the least, but it had acquired a sharpness that made the Koorime recoil. "At least … you're not ill."

"Heh." Kurama raised his head, a cynical expression on his face. "I would hesitate to not call this an affliction," he said. He took a deep breath, exhaled, stared idly across the table, and muttered absently, "If I do keep it, I'll have a lot to explain to my family …"

"If?" Hiei repeated. Kurama threw him a look that was almost vicious, and stood up. "What are you doing?"

"Going to work," the Kitsune replied. "I'll only be a little late."

"Should you be working?"

"I'm not an invalid. I'll be fine." Besides, perhaps work could be distracting, if temporarily. He paused a moment as a nauseating feeling washed over him; when he thought it had passed, he took his coat from the closet and gathered his things. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

Hiei nodded, scrutinizing the Fox as he left. '_If_,' he thought. Something about the word—he didn't like it. But yes, let Kurama go to work. They'd just received a shock, they both needed a little time, maybe they could sort it out tonight …

He jumped as a flash of red passed him. "What's wro—?"

The sound of vomiting answered his question.

* * *

"Kurama. Hey, Kurama?"

The Fox frowned. Work had been wearisome, and he'd hoped to pass Yusuke's shop unnoticed. "Yes?" he replied, turning to face the brunette.

"Um, I brought your test results over yesterday, but you were sleeping …"

"I got them." Yusuke was looking at him expectantly. "I tested positive for something," he elaborated reluctantly.

His friend gave him a stricken look. "Is it serious?"

Kurama weighed his answer. "It … could be. It could be very life-changing—But I could have a procedure done,' he added hastily, not liking the look on Yusuke's face, "if I want, to avoid it."

"Oh." Yusuke scratched his neck. "Well, uh, if there's anything I can help you with, let me know."

'Child support?' he thought, trying to imagine the look on Yusuke's face if he actually said that. "Thank you, Yusuke," he said instead. "I'll keep that in mind." What was he supposed to say? 'I have a fetus inside me; it might be yours?'

Or how about: 'I might need an abortion?'

* * *

"How did work fare?" Hiei inquired. He'd tried to call, but Kurama's machine had answered, and he hated talking to it.

"It wore on me, but the sickness did go away." He frowned. "Yusuke caught me on the way home today."

"Should you be walking to and from work anymore?" Kurama gave Hiei a look almost as menacing as the one from that morning. "What did Yusuke want?"

"He asked about my results." He explained how he'd answered the brunette. The Jaganshi frowned a little at the mention of the "procedure." "Which reminds me," he said, noticing Hiei's expression. "You and I need to discuss what to do about …"

Hiei pointed to his stomach. "That?"

"Er, yes." He sighed. "And, if I keep it or get rid of it."

Kurama's words made Hiei wince. 'Worse than "if,"' the Koorime thought, frowning. _Get rid of. _"It's too early. You just found out about the child—"

"I believe the proper term right now is fetus," Kurama interrupted. "Wait, no—embryo."

"—this morning," Hiei finished, his frown deepening. "I wouldn't want the wrong decision made out of hastiness." Kurama looked disconcerted. "You're around two months, right? Maybe you should"—he shrugged—"carry it around a little longer, and then think it over."

Kurama considered Hiei's suggestion. A little longer, and meanwhile he'd have to put up with the dizziness and nausea, and probably start to gain weight, and Hiei was already displaying signs of an overprotective mate—and despite the suggestion's neutral surface, he suspected that the Jaganshi was already favoring one out come over the other. "When you say 'a little longer'—"

"A week or two?"

Hiei's enthusiasm made him wary. "And if I'm moody and hormonal the entire time?" he provoked.

He received a shrug. "I don't think a matter such as this should be decided during a mood swing," Hiei countered casually.

'Which translates to: we can wait until you look like a watermelon, which would by then leave only one option.' Kurama thought reproachfully. He'd been hoping for a little indifference from Hiei; perhaps such an expectation, even of Hiei, was unrealistic in retrospect, but he still hadn't anticipated … _this._

* * *

Something seemed off in Shuichi, Shiori thought.

One might have inferred that she meant the younger boy of that name, who'd only recently been hospitalized. However, he seemed as vital as ever now, and today it was her elder son that she worried for. He'd apparently shown up to work looking lackluster all week, and yesterday it had quickly circulated around the building that Shuichi had been heard throwing up in the restroom.

Of course, Shuichi himself made no mention of this allegation or his health, good or bad. He was currently leaning against the railing of the back porch, conversing with the other Shuichi, and rejecting another attempt by Hiei to get him to eat something since dinner was not yet ready. The couple glanced in the direction of the window, where she was, and she quickly lowered her gaze, pretending that it required full concentration to rinse the grapes in the sink.

"She's still watching you," Hiei stated.

"I know." It'd occurred to Kurama soon after arriving that Shiori wasn't being as social as usually, and he quickly caught on that she was scrutinizing him from afar. "Do you think she notices?"

Aside from the nausea in the morning, there'd been little change in Kurama, save for his face having grown slightly fuller. "It's not very obvious," Hiei answered, "but who knows?"

"I don't like it."

"Tell her, not me."

"That's not what I meant."

"Shuichi," Shiori called.

The younger Shuichi didn't bother looking toward her. He'd also noted Shiori's preoccupation with his brother since the latter had arrived, though he possessed neither the knowledge of the watcher nor of the watched. Nonetheless, he did at least recognize their mother's tone of voice—the one she'd recently used whenever addressing _him_—and gave the redhead a sympathetic look.

"Yes?" Kurama answered. Shiori gestured for him to come in to her, which he did. "I left Shuichi out there with Hiei," he said. "I hope he doesn't grow lonely."

"I'm sure that Hiei will open up eventually," Shiori replied mildly. She looked uncomfortable. "Are you feeling better at all? I know you weren't feeling entirely well; I mean, I remember that you didn't have much of an appetite—"

"That's not unusual," he said hastily, "given the heat."

"Maybe," she agreed. "But, I also know that you've been sick at work. I mean, yesterday you threw up—"

"_That _was third-hand gossip," he said defensively. Granted, he had, but it'd been blown out of proportion.

"I just want to make sure you're okay."

Perhaps he could arrange the adult equivalent of a play date for Shiori and Atsuko—they could afford to brush off on each other. "If something were … really wrong, I would tell you," he assured her.

"Are you sure?" she pressed.

"_Yes_," he said almost spitefully. He didn't mean to be so cross, but Hiei had recently adopted mannerisms similar to Shiori's, and presently Kurama felt like a mess between two mother hens, being picked apart by their beaks. The situation at hand, and the accumulated stress, had thus far left him with the sense of something raw, sick, and weary, mentally and physically. It was as though someone had placed a mesh screen over him, and he was trying to tear his way through. Shiori and Hiei both helped make up the mesh. "I'm sorry," he quickly added, "But I am fine."

'Physically, biologically—what do you know about hermaphrodites, Mother? Does this mean you only have, what, half a son? a third? three quarters?' It'd only occurred to him the previous day that if he had full and functioning _female _reproductive organs, he thusly must be _part female_, meaning that he _couldn't be all male. _Initially, the idea had only been in passing, but after he assessed it more fully, it horrified him.

Shiori frowned: despite Shuichi's insistence, he did _not _look fine.

Fortunately for Kurama, Hiei had slipped inside and caught the latter part of the conversation. Noting that Kurama was getting upset, and spying an opportunity to rescue the Fox, he promptly jumped in. "I consider it a spousal duty to look out for each other's health," he told Shiori, being careful with his tone. "And I don't think there is anything for you to be concerned over."

Kurama threw Hiei a thankful look, and set to moving away from the previous topic now that Hiei had stopped it in its tracks.

* * *

"You're tense," Hiei observed, watching Kurama pace back and forth in their kitchen.

Kurama laughed a little, sardonically. He looked at the refrigerator; he sorely wanted potato salad at the moment, but they had none. "I love my mother," he stressed. "_However_, her concerns shall be one of the more trying aspects of this project."

"Project?"

"Carrying it around a week or two, to paraphrase you." He looked to the mirror in the hall. Usually he had such a thin face, and now that it was filling out it was to him a painful attention-drawer.

"You're going to get bigger," Hiei pointed out, watching Kurama fuss. "All over, you'll fill out."

"Maybe," he replied offhandedly. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Hiei's face cloud. He narrowed his eyes, turned to look at the Jaganshi directly. "You don't want me to get rid of it," he said bluntly.

Hiei shifted his position on the couch, staring at the floor. "I don't like the term 'get rid of.'"

"Hiei, do you realize how much it would cost if I kept it? Not just fiscally—my job, my family, being able to walk inconspicuously down the street …"

"Are you blind?" Hiei asked quietly. "I'm right here. I would help you with everything. You didn't get this way by yourself, after all."

Kurama stared at him, and then looked away. "I'm not going to put off deciding."

Hiei clenched his teeth. "I … don't want you to get rid of it," he confirmed.

The Fox sighed. He had never foreseen _this _obstacle coming between Hiei and him. "And what happens if I do?" Hiei didn't answer. "Hiei, what if I do?"

He received a solemn stare. "… When you say that you might 'get rid of it,' I remember seeing the Makai below me, and a hand that kept me from falling, until it was pressured to let go." Hiei paused. "And then I think," he continued, "of how torturous it would have been, had that hand been crueler, and decided to play a game of drop and snatch on the precipice." Another pause. "To me … that is what you're doing right now."

His mate wore an expression that he couldn't decipher. And then Kurama seemed to look through him, blinking rapidly. "I'm sorry—that you think I'm cruel. But, perhaps you'd think differently if you were in my position." The redhead rose, and went back to the bedroom.

Hiei watched him go, heard the door shut. And then he stretched out on the couch—and, for at least tonight, his bed—and stared at the floor, the design on the rug blurring in his eyes. He'd forgiven the night with Yusuke, but he wasn't sure he could forgive _this. _

* * *

You know, one of my last American Government assignments was a brief essay over where I stand on the case of _Roe v. Wade_. I disliked the topic, because I have no clear ground that can be easily explained in such a brief essay, but I do like this; this allows for a bit of exploration into that area, which I think is good. It is good, I believe, for one to be able to tackle ... _unusual_, if that's the proper word, topics, and I'm glad I'm doing that, not only this, but with _Jagamino _as well (topic that's going to be examined in that one: polygamy. My stance? Wait and find out!).


	3. Chapter III

Old problems have yet to be resolved, and we see hints of problems to come, but it's some nine pages and is progressive, not filler, so please enjoy (or don't—who am I to dictate your mood?).

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter III  
June 15, 2007

The now-familiar sound of Kurama retching at the toilet woke Hiei. It sounded more agonized this morning, he noted, not entirely sorry for it. Nonetheless, he rose, and materialized by Kurama's side. When the Fox was done, he offered a bottle of mouthwash, which was promptly accepted. Neither spoke a word.

Kurama went to dress, while Hiei took over the kitchen. He had the routine down: Kurama would be miserable until ten or eleven, and then ravenous, and even if they weren't speaking, and apparently they weren't, Hiei felt obligated to accommodate him.

By the time Kurama had emerged from the bedroom, Hiei had his meal for the lunch hour prepared for him. The food looked delicious and nutritious and overall fantastic—and automatically made Kurama suspicious of just who, or what, Hiei had in mind while making it. The Koorime had good intentions, but it made him feel like a piece of breeding stock, being fattened by the farmer. But on the other hand, until he decided to keep it or abort—the term he'd decided to use following Hiei's guilt trip the previous night—, he still needed the nourishment.

He didn't say anything to Hiei on the way out.

* * *

Tension often affected him like a sort of steroid, boosting his productivity; he got ahead on his work quickly, after dodging a few concerns thrown his way be people alarmed with his sick-looking appearance. He was fine, he'd assured them—it was just a queasy stomach, it wasn't contagious, no need to worry. Kazuya was nowhere to be seen on his way in, thankfully, as the older man would nave been harder to fool.

His stomach growled, and at first he ignored it out of spite, but upon reaching a stopping point he did finally concede, and pulled out Hiei's food. His spite lessened a little after discovering that his lunch contained aburaage, and he reluctantly commended Hiei for not donning petty behavior over their argument.

And would it escalade, he wondered. If his math was correct, this new conflict could have come from his broken condom night with Yusuke—whom he'd done his best to avoid since briefing the brunette on his test results, as that was another problem unto itself—as likely as from his now "raw" relationship with Hiei. But this paternity ambiguity seemed of no great importance to the latter right now. Time was running out, and soon Hiei could very well go from coddling to practically worshipping him—or stop communicating with him altogether.

Some time later, Kazuya knocked on his step-son's door, only to find the redhead asleep at his desk. He raised his eyebrows in surprise—Shuichi never conducted himself unprofessionally like this—but widened his eyes when he realized that the boy's eyelashes were sparkling, the light playing off of tears.

* * *

"Shoronbo, please," Kurama said.

Keiko smiled at him before going back to the kitchen. He tried to reciprocate the expression. It felt odd being around her now. It stirred up guilt—he'd barely even been able to meet her eye at her wedding.

Someone plopped down beside him. "How's it going?" Yusuke asked.

"Stressful," he replied. Hunger wasn't his chief reason from stopping in on his way home. This predicament could be partially credited to Yusuke; thusly, Yusuke should be informed. "My results," he said, noticing Yusuke perplexed look.

"Did you get the procedure yet?"

"I haven't. I'm still thinking it over … and we're still arguing." Yusuke looked confused. "Hiei and I," he elaborated. "He doesn't want me to do it."

"But—didn't you say that it would get rid of the complications?" Kurama cringed at the word choice, but nodded. "Shouldn't he be for it, then?"

He shook his head. "It's very intricate," he answered cryptically.

"But I thought you said that it was dangerous."

"Serious, not dangerous." He sighed. "I can see his side, but …"

Keiko returned with his food, which he stared at thoughtfully. He was starving, but he was afraid of eating and then getting sick before he could leave.

"We _are _up to code, Fox-boy," Yusuke said. Kurama forced a laugh, and picked up the bun. "If you don't have the procedure, what will happen?"

Kurama chewed his food thoughtfully. "I'll have some physical symptoms, some of which I'm already experiencing, and I might have to work at home, or maybe even go away for a while."

Yusuke stared at his skeptically. "And Hiei wants you to go through all that, _why_?"

"He has his reasons …" the redhead murmured.

"_No_, Kurama, he doesn't care that you feel sick—that sounds almost abusive! I mean, if—." He lowered his voice. "If it were me and you—"

"You and I." Kurama couldn't help himself.

"—_I _wouldn't try to force you to put up with all of that."

In spite of himself, he smirked a little. "Don't be so sure," he replied dryly.

"You don't have to take that!" Yusuke protested. "You don't have to take that from him or anyone else!"

"He's not abusive," Kurama retorted.

"He wants you to endure an illness!" Yusuke was fuming by now.

"It's _not _an illness!" he snapped, even though he had referred to it as such himself. He looked around, leaned forward, and hissed into Yusuke's ear: "I'm pregnant!"

Yusuke gawked at him. "… _What_?" He furrowed his brows. "Quit shitting me. I'm worried. What's happening to you?"

"I'm not 'shitting' you, as you put it," he said matter-of-factly. "I think that my body developed some yoko qualities as a side effect of my youki. I'm about two months along." He pressed a napkin to his lips. "Keiko," he called into the kitchen, "the shoronbo was fantastic, thank you." Turning to the somewhat flabbergasted brunette beside him, he said, "Hiei's probably wondering where I am. Good night, Yusuke."

Yusuke stared after him; suddenly, his eyes widened as the stupor lifted, and he sprang from his chair. "Wait, Kurama!" He ran outside. The Kitsune had stopped, but looked impatient. "If you're not joking—"

"I aced my biology classes at Meiou, Yusuke," Kurama said. "I wouldn't tell you something so preposterous-sounding unless it was, phenomenally, true."

He received a cautious look. "Then the procedure you were talking about …"

"Would abort it," Kurama, knowing what was on Yusuke's mind, finished.

The Detective paled. "Please don't."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you just condemning Hiei for wanting me not to?" he demanded skeptically.

"Kurama, please—_it could be mine. _Don't get rid of it." The Fox shuddered again at Yusuke's wording. "Please, I'll help out—"

"Hiei and I are capable of supporting it ourselves, and you should worry about Keiko and yourself."

"_Please_," Yusuke persisted, grabbing the redhead's shoulders emphatically. "If nothing else, if you'll have it, _I'll _take care of it."

That did it. "I'm not some breeder's kennel bitch!" he growled, pulling away from Yusuke. "You're right; it might be yours, which is why I told you. But it's inside _me_, and I don't need you in addition to Hiei trying to choose vicariously through me!" His face was flushed from anger. Was this a hormonal rage, he wondered, but he swiftly negated the notion—it was chauvinistic, and if he wasn't careful, that presumption might be used against him. "You must understand," he continued in a less passionate voice, "that this is my ground. I'll tell you what I decide, but I won't allow you to trample on me."

* * *

Hiei hung up the phone. He generally disliked speaking into the device, but this had been an urgent call; Kurama's step-father, saying that "Shuichi" had been crying at work, asking if there was anything going on at home that the redhead wasn't telling them about. It amused Hiei in a way—he knew that he somewhat repelled the Hatanaka family, knew the possible implications behind "anything going on at home," and found it damned funny that if "anything" of that sort was actually "going on," they'd honestly believe he would truthfully answer.

Yes, he wanted to say, something is "going on"—now can you convince your son not to kill your grandchild?

He heard the door open; out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurama taking off his shoes, his coat, his hands shaking, visibly upset about something. "Where have you been?" the Jaganshi inquired.

"I was hungry," Kurama answered curtly. "I stopped to eat. Thank you for the aburaage, by the way."

"You're welcome."

"Yusuke knows now."

"And?"

"He tried buying my womb." He laughed sardonically. "I only just learned I had it, and he thought I'd be content being an incubator, so long as he paid for everything. I'm tired of being treated like a vessel."

Hiei knew what Kurama meant. "I don't consider you a—"

"Laying hen?" the Fox supplied, his tone skeptical.

"Or vessel," he defended. "I wouldn't commit myself to an incubator." Kurama gave him a dubious look. "I know what it's like to receive attention for one purpose. I wouldn't do that to you."

"You never said what would happen if I don't keep it, Hiei. What would you do? 'Divorce' me?" Hiei said nothing; he found Kurama's bitterness a strong put-off. "I'm going to lie down," the Kitsune muttered, brushing past him.

Hiei glanced to the couch. 'Hello again,' he thought glumly. If the situation between Kurama and himself drew out much longer, he might consider his relationship with the furniture more intimate that the one with his mate.

* * *

Yukina was setting out seed for the birds that frequented the temple yard, when a jubilant shout came from the direction of the steps:

"Yukiiinaaa!!!"

She looked up, and saw through the scores of fluttering wings Kuwabara jogging cheerfully toward her. She smiled, but held out her left hand while holding her right index finger to her lips. "We have to be quiet," she told him.

"Huh? Why?"

"Kurama's using the temple. So keep your voice down."

"… For _spiritual means_?" Yukina nodded, and he widened his eyes. Of course he knew that his friend probably practiced _something_, but he'd never encountered Kurama engaging in any sort of spiritual activity before.

"He looked a little upset when he came here."

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. The other day Yusuke had remarked on how unusually cruel Kurama could be; this was technically true, but the brunette had said it completely out of the blue and so …viciously, almost—But now that he actually pondered over it, Yusuke and Kurama had been behaving strangely around each other lately. The two had conversed at the one's wedding and the other's commitment ceremony, but seldom while looking at each other, always while doing something else. It was unlike them. What if they had experienced a falling out?

A dash of red in the corner of his eye roused him from his thoughts. "Hey, Yukina, I'll be right back, okay?" He approached Kurama, who was descending from the porch. "Hey." He placed a hand on the Fox's shoulder. "Were you meditating in there or something?"

Kurama stared at him, and nodded slowly. "I was." He could not help but smile a little at Kuwabara's startled reaction. "I do have a spiritual side, Kuwabara."

"Er … well, I figured that you did, but I've never seen you come to temple for something like that before." He shrugged. "Sorry, it's just unusual to me, I guess. And then Urameshi's been acting weird—the next thing you know, Hiei'll be kissing babies…"

Kurama actually appeared a little sad, though it looked like he tried to mask it. "Well, I'm … I'm having a spiritual dilemma right now, and I'm not sure how to handle it." He shrugged. "Are you pro-life or pro-choice, Kuwabara?"

"_What?_" Kurama gazed at him soberly. "Um, pro-life, I guess … _why_?"

"Don't worry about it," he replied, waving one hand.

"Wait—is _that_ your spiritual dilemma?" Kuwabara frowned. "Is there, uh—is there a _girl _mixed up in this dilemma?"

'Part of one,' Kurama thought. _Him. _He didn't want to lie to his friend—"Yes and no," he admitted. "It's very complicated." Him—Her? Hem? Hir? What about _hirm_, since he was certain he was more male than female. "What are your thoughts on the 'third gender,' Kuwabara?" he asked absently.

The carrot-top flushed. "You mean, like drag queens or something?"

Kurama laughed. "Not quite. Never mind; don't worry about it. I should be going." He approached Yukina, and said, "I apologize for the inconvenience."

"But that's the primary purpose of a temple," she countered.

He shrugged. "I'd still rather not have to make use of it—but that's obsolete now." Yukina gave him a concerned look, but he forced a smile. "I should go home before it gets dark; I have work in the morning."

"See you later," Kuwabara called, and as an afterthought, he added, "And for what it's worth, I don't have a problem with drag queens or anything." Kurama smiled, and waved.

Yukina furrowed her brow. "Kazuma, what are drag queens?"

* * *

Hiei stared down at his boots. It was extremely unusual that he should grow tired simply from trekking through this indoor market place that Kurama and the others called a "mall." But then, he wasn't feeling particularly well these days.

The cacophony of ningen and their young reverberated against him from all sides. Glancing this way or that, he could see them, generally a man and a woman shepherding various-sized flocks of their blended miniatures to this or that store. He scrutinized the often frazzled-looking keepers of these entourages with disdain, but also envy; and their grubby, squalling charges with mild disgust, but also intense longing.

One of these hordes came to rest on the bench across the fountain from him. Behind the worn out-looking parents and their manic offspring stood a giant planter of lilies, common to this sort of establishment. A child stood backwards on the bench, and pinched off a still perfectly green bud before its scolding mother pulled it away. Hiei's stomach twisted—it never had a chance to bloom.

Feeling sick, the Jaganshi stood up—and repelled backwards, disoriented, as he had walked into someone. "What, no 'sorry'?"

It was Yusuke. "You shouldn't stand in my walkway," the Koorime rejoined.

"Hiei, Kurama told me—"

"I know."

"And he hasn't decided—"

"He hasn't. But I doubt that bombarding him with one pitiful plea after another will really sway him." He referred to the barrage of phone messages Yusuke had been leaving for Kurama: begging the latter to keep it, promising to help out, and then abruptly hanging up as, presumably, someone else entered the room. "He really hates those, by the way."

"It's the only thing I can do!" Yusuke exclaimed angrily. "He won't see me to talk about it. I don't get it—a lot of jerks bail when a kid comes up, but he's made because I actually want to _help_." He gave Hiei a desperate look. "You live with him; can't you try and persuade him to keep it?"

'What makes you so sure you're the father?' Hiei thought grudgingly. "I cannot do much to keep him from having it done if that's what he decides." He loathed how helpless that admission made him feel.

The Detective frowned. "Even if he kills it, you won't treat him differently?"

He said it as though it was an abominable act—and Hiei probably agreed—but how different was it from Kurama becoming Shuichi Minamino to begin with? An unborn child had been sacrificed then as well; if not, their Kurama would not exist, and none of this would have happened. "I did not say that," the Koorime replied. "But I am not going to leave, divorce—"

"Uh, I don't think your commitment thing was legally recognized."

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Or otherwise abandon Kurama, regardless of what happens."

* * *

Yusuke's comment about their commitment ceremony gnawed at Hiei on his way home. He wasn't especially learned on the customs and legalities of ningen society; in this field, as he knew was that the ceremony that Kurama and he had was a lot like the wedding that Yusuke and Keiko had, but somehow different. He'd have to ask Kurama about it.

However, he didn't see Kurama anywhere when he entered the apartment. There was the Fox's stuff on the table, including his laptop, which was open with several web pages on the screen, but the owner of the stuff was nowhere to be seen. He looked at the web pages, and grimaced. Abortion sites, a couple of which were rather graphic. "Kurama," he called.

He heard a door open, saw steam drift into the hall, and then Kurama appeared. "Oh, you're home," the redhead remarked, rubbing a towel to his hair roughly. He realized that Hiei was by the laptop, and scowled. "Close out of those. You wouldn't find those pleasant."

That was putting it mildly. Hiei thought they were revolting. "What does this blinking red light mean?"

"What? Oh, it needs to be plugged into its charger. I should have done it earlier, but, ah …"

His voice grew inaudible. Was that Kurama's way of admitting he'd gotten emotional? "I couldn't find K," he said, holding up the bag, "but they had B-12 and D." Kurama had tried to explain to him the concept of the jars and the little oblong capsules they contained, but he couldn't comprehend how they possessed any nutritional value.

"I may need iron as well," Kurama murmured.

His mate's sudden interest in these compacted nourishments concerned him. "Are you feeling sick?"

"Every morning."

"No, I mean—these pills."

Kurama shrugged. "It takes what it needs from me, so …"

The Jaganshi frowned. "It's a parasite?"

"In a sense, yes."

He stared at Kurama. "You—you have the organ to support it?"

"Uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, if those are what you mean."

He recalled what Kurama had said about youki and alterations. "And those are demonic."

"Yes."

"And the rest of you is human."

Kurama gave him a weird look. "Yes, to the extent of my knowledge."

"Could that … hurt you?"

The thought had crossed Kurama's mind before. "I don't know," he confessed. "I would have to see a doctor about that."

It hadn't occurred to Hiei that the child might _harm _Kurama. "Is it hurting you right now?"

The worried look on Hiei's face reminded him of the morning he had opened his test results and read "Positive." "No," he answered. He certainly hadn't meant to frighten the Koorime.

However, his assurance seemed to have little effect, and he received a careful look. "If … if it could hurt you," he said, "I would be okay with …"

"I'm sure it won't come to that." But it was nice that he and only he was the focus of his mate's attention right now. A small smile appeared on his lips. "I'm growing jealous of the couch, Hiei."

* * *

**Aburaage**, according to Wikipedia, "is a Japanese food product made from soybeans. It is produced by cutting tofu into thin slices and deep frying first at 110120 °C unfortunately, I don't off the top of my head know what this translates to using Fahrenheit then at 180200 °C again. Aburaage is often used to wrap inarizushi, and is added to miso soup. It is also added to udon noodle dishes which are called kitsune-udon because of legends that foxes (kitsune) like deep-fried tofu." It's supposed to have a sweet taste to it, I believe; I've been meaning to look around for a recipe, on the chance that I might be able to attempt it some time this summer.

**Shoronbo**, according to the English Adaptation Notes in the back of my sister's _Yami no Matsuei _manga, is "a small meat bun that you might eat at a ramen shop or a Chinese restaurant in Japan. Comes from the Chinese 'xiaolong baozi.' Pronounced 'shouroupou.'"


	4. Chapter IV

Well now, as of yesterday, I can now write, read, and watch steamy lemony goodness _legally_—as in, I am now recognized by the United States government as an adult, haha!

Okay, now that that announcement is over and done with, this chapter shall solve one problem, while still carrying others, and so I hope that the reader does not consider this chapter ten pages wasted. That said:

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter IV  
June 29, 2007

They weren't "sleeping together"—Hiei had made no advances, and Kurama no offers—but sleeping in the same bed again had helped smooth out the recent rifts. Hiei was as protective as ever, to Kurama's chagrin, but this now included taking care in the bedroom, since he had as of late taken to retiring earlier and rising later than the Koorime; also, the latter brought up no more talk of their child's fate, or the impending decision of which. Since the notion that Kurama could be in danger had rooted itself in Hiei's mind, new concerns apparently overshadowed the former for the moment.

Kurama had made a doctor's appointment in the Makai for later next week. He wasn't sure how to tell Hiei.

* * *

He made the last of his purchases and left the mall. It was nearing six-thirty, but he'd forewarned Hiei that he would be late coming home. The Koorime probably thought that he'd gone to the temple again, a practice he'd kept up to help unwind—though now Yukina asked every time if he might want to talk to her or Genkai (who kept mercifully silent about his visits) about his "spiritual dilemma."

The aroma of dinner greeted him when he came home, and he was happy that his stomach didn't churn from it. "Did you get what you need?" Hiei inquired, eyeing his bags.

"Yes," replied the Fox, depositing the goods on the table. Hiei watched curiously as he withdrew the contents of the first bag: A new pair of shoes. "My old ones are too small now," Kurama explained. From the second, he took a sleek green bottle with gold foil encircled at its top. "Sparkling grape juice."

Hiei quirked an eyebrow. "Sparkling?"

"Consider it something like non-alcoholic Western wine. I thought we'd have it with dinner. And then, this." Kurama pulled out the final article: A book. Hiei rolled his eyes; he was by now well-acquainted with the novels, biographies, texts, anthologies, and all the other things book-related that made up his mate's unofficial library, which saw frequent additions. "I thought that you might give this part a look-over," the redhead continued, as though having not seen his sarcastic expression. Green eyes scanned the table of contents, and then a slender finger opened the book some two-thirds of the way through, pointing out a page. Hiei took it, his eyes scanning over the title at the top:

"Chapter 7: The Role of the Father and Sexual Relations," he read, blinking.

Kurama shifted footing. "We'll have to improvise in some places, of course, given that I … I'm _not _a woman…. I have an appointment next week, to determine just what all is going on."

It dawned on Hiei just what Kurama was trying to say. "… And you'll make sure that _you _are okay, too?"

"I'm too much of a self-interested person not to," the Fox answered with a shrug. Hiei nodded thoughtfully, blinking suspiciously rapidly. Kurama raised an eyebrow. "I hope you realize the depth of what it is you've gotten into—"

"I'm fine with all of that," Hiei said, waving it off. "I know it won't be easy. Sit down, dinner's ready—"

"One thing I'd like to clarify right now," Kurama interrupted. "I do not want you acting like my keeper, understand?" He questioned the utility of this request, though, as he was sure that Hiei wasn't aware of his own behavior. "I can do things for myself," he stressed.

Hiei nodded, surprised by Kurama's obstinance. "You dish up dinner, then ," he replied, sitting down. Trying to save face, he added, "Who do you think I am, anyhow—your Mother?"

* * *

Ever since Kazuya had confided to her that Shuichi had cried at work, Shiori had tried getting together with her son. Each time, he had come up with a conflicting engagement. Several times she had called on his days off, but each time Hiei was the one who answered, and always said that Shuichi was either asleep—in the middle of the day—or didn't fell well. Her worries had elevated further in the past week after hearing that Shuichi had taken a syringe into the restroom with him. She and Kazuya had drawn the conclusion that their son was ill, and not like someone with the flu, either; or that _something else _was going on behind the newly "wedded" couple's doors, of which their new son-"in-law" was offering no details.

However, a friend of Shuichi's had. A petite girl with an apparent penchant for hair dye, Yukina (whose full name Shiori had never caught) had said that he'd taken to visiting the temple that she seemed to live at. He always came in the late afternoon, so most likely right after work, Shiori deduced; and always routinely, making it fairly easy to "ambush" him.

Indeed, he did appear quite startled when she stepped in front of him one evening as he was leaving. "We," she said firmly, "need to talk." He opened his mouth to say something. "You're acting very unlike yourself," she cut him off. "You're trying to avoid your family. You're always 'asleep' or 'sick' whenever I try to get together with you, and I hear that you're constantly dodging Kazuya at work—but he does still get a look at you, Shuichi, and other people there do talk, and … we're concerned, Shuichi. And since you're not talking, we're left here wondering if you're seriously _ill_, or if Hiei's being abusive—"

"Why do so many people seem so assume that?" he said in annoyance, recalling Yusuke's accusations in the ramen shop. "Mother, look at him, and then look at me: If it came down to it, I'm sure he'd need an ambulance before I did." What were they in the others' eyes, the damsel and the monster? Both comparisons made him angry, and yet the sheer preposterousness of it made him laugh.

This distressed Shiori. "Shuichi, please! I'm really worried about you."

"I … believe you're communicated that fairly well," he replied. At least she wasn't being neurotic like Yusuke. "You are right," he admitted, "we do need to talk—and I think that Hiei needs to be involved, too. Did you drive?"

She had. She'd prepared for anything, even being here till nightfall, if he proved noncompliant. But this wasn't the case, and he quite willfully got into the front passenger's seat of her car. "You were crying at work one day," she said, making sure he'd buckled his seatbelt before starting the car.

He furrowed his brow, but then remembered his countenance on the day that he had confessed his situation to Yusuke. "Oh, yes, I suppose I did once." He pulled a small bag of peanuts from his pocket. "May I eat in here? I'm trying to gain weight." Shiori gave him a curious look. "It's for my, ah, condition."

His elaboration begot a raised eyebrow. "So you are sick, then." She sounded hurt.

"No, Mother, I'm not _sick_, per se …"

"Why did you inject yourself with a syringe at work?"

He widened his eyes, appalled that someone would pay that much attention in the employees' restroom. "Those were hormones; I didn't have time that morning before work to—"

"Are you transgender?" she suddenly asked, staring at him apprehensively.

"No!" The question hit closer to home than she knew. "No—Mother, I'd be more comfortable discussing this when you're not driving." Naturally, this statement seemed to make her even more anxious. "I'm not in danger, Mother," he assured her, but it didn't help much.

Hiei was folding laundry when they arrived. 'And people so quickly deem him malevolent,' Kurama though, watching the Koorime matching socks into pairs, and then looking up at his mother and him. "Our time's up, Hiei," he said. "We, ah, have to tell her…." The other demon eyed them both more studiously, slowly nodded, and rearranged the laundry so that everyone might be seated. "Hiei, why don't you take off your headband?" Kurama ventured. His request was met with a skeptical stare. "Please? For the sake of the—discussion at hand?" His mate frowned, but reluctantly removed the ward. Immediately, the Jagan shot wide open.

Shiori recoiled and let out an involuntary shriek. Kurama grabbed her hand. "It's okay," he said soothingly, "But don't look into it." She nodded, too shocked to conjure words. "You enjoy folklore, Mother; perhaps you recall reading about the Jagan?" For a moment all she did was stare at him, but then she slowly nodded. "I recall you once told me how strange you thought Hiei's surname was." (Hiei scowled.) "He didn't inherit it. As you can see, he earned it." He paused. "Hiei is a demon, Mother—like the ones in the stories."

Shiori gawked at Hiei's Jagan again, but remembered her son's warning and averted her gaze. "Okay," she managed. What more could she say—Her son-"in-law" was looking at her with all three eyes.

Kurama doubted the sincerity of her response, but it was a start. "Hiei's a demon," he repeated, "and—so am I."

Suddenly, Shiori's son was far more interesting than Hiei's third eye. "What?"

He seemed hesitant, and ran a hand through his hair. "In folklore," he began, "perhaps you remember a creature called—" His hand clutched hers tightly, and she jumped as half a dozen orange blossoms sprung to life in his other hand. "—the Kitsune?"

At Hiei's suggestion, mother and son both sat down, and Kurama attempted to explain as much of his origins to his mother as possible, while trying his best not to alarm her too much. The orange blossoms had a calming effect on both of them, making Shiori less jumpy and Kurama more open. "… despite becoming a proper demon—or, close to it—again, I chose to stay in the Ningenkai," he concluded, "where my family is." Shiori nodded slowly, and emboldened by her reception thus far, Kurama decided it appropriate to share his final bit of information. "Mother, I went through some physical changes as the demonic energy in this body matured. Some were blatant; others were, apparently, very subtle." He paused. "The latter ones are why I've been avoiding you, among others …"

Shiori stared at him, her concern renewed. "Shuichi, what's happening? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's really _wrong_, but, I …" He shrugged. "I'm pregnant."

She didn't say anything. She just stared at him. Suddenly he became hyper-aware of his slight physical changes, sure that she was scrutinizing these. "I went to a doctor not long ago, one in the Makai," he hastily added. "After that was when I began taking shots." Not only did they contain sex hormones, which he hated thinking about, they were demonic hormones supposed to help reconcile his reproductive organs with the rest of his body. "I don't know if it will disperse your worries or increase them," he continued nervously, "But I'm not ill." 'And Hiei's not hitting me….' But he wasn't going to voice that thought there, in front of the demon accused. He bit down on his tongue for fear of rambling, and waited for a reaction from his mother.

The staring persisted, to the point that he thought he might implode. And then she embraced him, so tightly that it hurt a little, and said, "You must not be far along."

"About three months," he replied, trying not to squirm. He glanced over at Hiei, caught the Jaganshi's eye, and smiled a little.

His mother released him, and moved towards the phone. "We should really call Kazuya and tell him," she exclaimed. "He's worried about you too, you know."

Kurama paled a little. Telling his mother had been hard enough; over the phone, Kazuya wouldn't be able to see attributes at hand to prove that they weren't insane. And yet Shiori was already dialing the number for the Hatanaka house. "… Of course," he murmured, though clearly this was a superficial permission.

Hiei smirked, leaned over, and rubbed Kurama's shoulders while the Kitsune stared blankly into space as though catatonic. "She's supposed to be the hardest one, right?" Kurama nodded slowly, trying to take comfort from that fact.

* * *

Hiei's words were prophetic, as telling Shiori was like throwing a torch on the pyre; everyone soon learned from the enthusiastic grandmother of Kurama's condition. "Your mother," Hiei declared, listening to the latest message on the answering machine—Yusuke, kissing Kurama's feet and renewing his promise to help out (Yeah, right, thought the Koorime)—, "is a gossip."

Kurama shrugged diffidently. "I suppose they were all starting to worry," he reasoned. "Let her explain it to everyone else if she wants." He sure didn't mind her explaining the details to everyone for him.

Someone knocked on the door. 'Only a matter of time,' he thought, getting up to answer it.

He found a grinning Kuwabara on the doorstep. "Found a solution to your spiritual dilemma?" inquired the carrot-top.

The Fox smiled wryly. "Perhaps—Found an explanation to Yukina about drag queens?"

Kuwabara laughed. "So you heard that question. But it wasn't so freaky to her; she told me that ice maidens reproduce parthenogenetically, which I guess kind of makes them a race of hermaphrodites … that's kinda 'third gender,' right?"

"And … the hermaphrodite matter doesn't bother you at all?" Kurama asked cautiously.

"Why? She's an ice _maiden_. The parthenogenesis is just a little detail—she's a girl to me."

"What is that word you keep saying?" Hiei demanded. "Partho…?"

"Asexual reproduction," Kurama defined. "Kuwabara's biology classes must be sticking to him."

"Yes, they are," answered the man in question. "But I've never read about anything like _you _in the classroom."

"He's not a _thing_," huffed Hiei, annoyed with stumbling over a word that Kuwabara had so perfectly articulated.

"I mean a case like his."

"I'd be surprised if there was much literature about such a thing," Kurama said honestly.

"Actually …" Kuwabara held up a fat envelope. "Genkai and Yukina wanted me to give this to you, and Yukina"—he took from his pack what appeared to be a care package of assorted snacks—"made these for you. So … You know what you're going to name it?"

"We don't even know its gender yet," Hiei said dryly from the kitchen.

"I was just asking," Kuwabara defended. "Uh, Kurama, you wanna see if Yukina'll make more of those for you? If I were you, I wouldn't trust someone so _poisonous _around my food."

"Kuwabara, I might point out that most of the food at our commitment ceremony was prepared by Hiei."

"And if you were him, there wouldn't have been any ceremony," Hiei muttered darkly, though the astonished look on Kuwabara's face pleased him.

"… The food was better than the wedding …" Kuwabara muttered sheepishly, the word "better" looking like it hurt to utter.

This pleased Hiei further—though, again, the significance of _ceremony _versus _wedding _perplexed him, and he reminded himself to ask Kurama later to elaborate.

Kurama watched Hiei slyly, and remarked, "Perhaps you and Yukina can save money on caterers, Kuwabara, and have Hiei cook for your wedding."

* * *

"You'll have to face that as a possibility, you know," Kurama said. Kuwabara had left some time before, and Hiei was skulking. "They've been dating."

"Door," Hiei muttered. He rolled his eyes and answered it.

It was Yusuke. "How are…?" the brunette began to ask, but he trailed off, and gawked at Kurama.

"What?" the Fox said cautiously.

His friend pointed. "You've got chipmunk cheeks!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"… I suppose I do," he affirmed. Somewhere behind him, Hiei snorted. "Did you come over here to make me a spectacle?"

"Eh—no." Yusuke stepped inside. "I wanted to see how you were and stuff. Um … Are you feeling sick at all?"

"Every morning," Hiei answered in Kurama's stead. "Would you like to get up early so you'll be here in time to hold back his hair?"

Yusuke looked mortified at the thought. "Um … Um—when are you going to blow up?" he asked Kurama hastily.

"I don't believe it happens quite that way," the redhead replied, amused with Yusuke's reaction.

"Okay, so you get the chipmunk cheeks, and then the pot belly?"

Kurama rested his head in one hand while gesturing with the other. "Something like that."

Yusuke nodded thoughtfully. "Cool. I mean, I won't mind when you get big or anything."

"I will," the redhead remarked.

"You'll still look good."

"I won't be able to _move_."

"Well, I can do things for you if you need it."

Yusuke's sappiness was beginning to putrefy in Hiei's ears. "Is Keiko going to volunteer as well?" he asked.

The brunette's face went blank. "Uh …" He shrugged. "Actually, Kurama, I think she said something about maybe taking you clothes shopping sometime or whatever." He furrowed his brows. "Hey, when it's born—Wait, _how's _it gong to be born?"

"The way most mammals are," Kurama answered patiently. "Now, when it's born…?"

"What's it going to say on the birth certificate?"

Hiei frowned. "The what?"

Kurama didn't answer. He stared at his feet—how long until he could no longer see them?—and took a deep breath. "I've considered it," he finally said. "I have an idea, though it's still sketchy."

"What is a birth certificate?" Hiei pressed.

"It's a custom in the Ningenkai. It lists details such as the child's date of birth, its parents—and since the circumstances of this child are rather extraordinary, we may hit a snag there."

"What's the idea?" Yusuke asked.

"Don't worry about it right now," Kurama said nonchalantly.

"All right—But, if you need any help with it, let me know."

The Kitsune smiled. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, Yusuke."

"Yeah, well …" He shrugged. "I want to be involved."

Hiei glowered at the floor. How nice it must be, he wagered, to have sex and then drop in when it's convenient.

* * *

"Yusuke's a little coarse in this field," Kurama said, unbuttoning his shirt, "But at least he's willing to help out."

"Do we need help?" Hiei muttered, staring at the ceiling.

He was nude. It'd taken him a while to adjust to sleeping in a bed, and even longer to not sleeping in his clothes. Kurama had given him one or two pairs of pajamas, which he'd worn just about that frequently, and now he seemed more than used to sleeping minus any clothes whatsoever. It cut down on the time between arousal and satisfaction, the Fox thought—usually.

"He doesn't take us seriously."

"Yusuke?" Kurama gave him a curious look. "How do you figure?"

"He doesn't think we're 'official,' or …" Hiei shrugged, forgetting Yusuke's precise words.

The curious look persisted, and then realization washed over Kurama's face. "_Oh. _Well technically speaking—he's right."

Hiei stared, startled. He'd assumed that Yusuke was talking out his ass. "How?"

"… The government recognized Yusuke's and Keiko's wedding as meaning that they're married. It doesn't recognize our commitment ceremony the same—well, actually, it doesn't recognize our ceremony at all." Kurama gave him a sober look. "We're _different _from Yusuke and Keiko, if you follow."

A few moments passed, and then Hiei smirked sardonically. "Heh. They base their society off of sex—primitives."

"Does that bother you so much, Hiei?"

The Jaganshi frowned. "I should have what Yusuke has," he resolved.

Kurama watched him pensively. "I … I could remedy that, a little." Hiei raised an eyebrow. "It won't be the exact same, and it will take time…."

Did Kurama have the sort of influence to accomplish something like that? And yet the redhead seemed dead serious. He was undressed now, realized Hiei, whose gaze slipped downwards. It'd been a while …

Kurama noticed the shift in Hiei's eyes. "Ah—there's something I should warn you about. What with the hormones"—his face began to pink—"I'm not sure when we'll be able to do _that _again. To be more descript …" He donned a pained look. "I don't think I _can _right now."

Kurama wasn't getting erections, Hiei realized. Considering the latter's feelings, he met his mate's shamed face with a passive one. "If it's hormonal, then it's temporary," he deduced.

"Temporary's indefinite," Kurama grumbled, lying down beside him. And then, his tone changing, the Kitsune said, "Here," and seizing Hiei's hand, positioned it atop his stomach. "Its energy is more tangible."

Kurama was right. Hiei had sensed the creature before simply as a shift in Kurama's energy; now, it had its own distinct from that of his companion's. "Just one," he remarked.

"Litters are not uncommon," the redhead stated, "in full Kitsune. Any more may not have been healthy." He smiled. "Besides, do you really desire to chase around after three or four fire foxes, or whatever the case may be?"

The prospect of such a situation admittedly wasn't appealing. "Whatever the case may be?" Hiei repeated.

He received an apprehensive smile. "A litter could have eight, sometimes more; that's not a pleasant thought at all."

Three or four could _kill _Kurama, let alone eight, but Hiei caught the message beneath the multiples: That the child might be a Mazoku-Kitsune hybrid; the offspring of Yusuke and Kurama—and not Kurama and him.


	5. Chapter V

**A/N: **All right, it's been almost six months since last time I updated this story. Time flies, doesn't it? I just began my second semester of college last week!

Anyway, here we see Kurama's "remedy" that he mentioned to Hiei in the last section of the previous chapter, as well as Hiei-Yusuke and Kurama-Yusuke (and Kurama-Koenma) interaction.

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter V  
January 27, 2008

Koenma chewed his pacifier, something he did when on the spot. "This really isn't something that's normally done…."

"You've sanctioned Genkai's decision to turn her property into a refuge for demons," Kurama argued.

"For pacifistic demons."

"Which, in the Ningenkai, Hiei is." Koenma donned a skeptical look, which irked the Fox a little. "Can you not agree with me that we have all made progress since … coming into your service—I as well as he? Even you've had room to grow, especially now that you're no longer so confined by your father's fetters." The expression on the god's face told Kurama that his aim was fruitful. "Hiei's already suffered unfair prejudice by those who should be his family; all I want of you are a few documents…"

"A few _forgeries_, you mean."

"Forgive him for not being conveniently bizarre like Yusuke or myself," he said irritably.

'_You're _"conveniently bizarre"?' thought Koenma, eyeing the Kitsune sardonically. "Kurama, about _that_—the child—it's not an auspicious condition for the human world—"

"Hiei and I will take care about that," Kurama interrupted. "But there are concerns for after, as well." His former boss still looked reluctant. "There was a point in time," he tried, "when any misconduct by Hiei would penalize me as well; can't we redeem my good behavior to benefit him also, especially considering our arrangement now?"

The god continued chewing, then growled his relent. "If I allow this," he said, "you'll have to keep him in line." Kurama nodded. "Then what date should we give him—and I assume that we're continuing with 'Jaganshi' as his surname?"

* * *

"Wait," Shuichi said, quite visibly confused. "He's going to by your _son _now?"

"In a legal sense, yes. After the adoption is completed, that is." Kurama said it so matter-of-factly, but the boy still looked lost.

Hiei could empathize. When Kurama had come home earlier, and in a tone one might have used to remark the present weather, informed him that as of today he was a twenty-year-old human, he couldn't immediately conjure any words of reply. He had to commend the Kitsune's resourcefulness—_he _certainly would never have such an idea—, but the means to him still seemed nothing short of _bizarre_.

Strange as it was, it still didn't appear to hinder the Hatanakas' enthusiasm at the announcement over dinner. Of course, he supposed that some legal complexity was miniscule compared to other recent information. While Shiori urged her son to taste one of the rice cakes, she congratulated Hiei on his newfound humanity. Somehow he didn't wince at the wording. Provided that he wasn't expected now to regard the Hatanakas as his grandparents and uncle…

"This doesn't make me brother to my own child, does it?" he asked the redhead after they had gone.

"Hiei, when I ask you to at least pay minimal regard to human customs, the paperwork is one of those matters that you may ignore if you wish." At least Koenma and he had several months' intermission before another headache. "We need to stop at the grocery store."

"We bought food yesterday."

"Yes, but there's something I want for today."

The Koorime would have pointed out that they had just eaten, but his mate was insistent. And so Hiei waited outside, away from the human crowd, while Kurama obtained whatever foodstuffs were so urgent. Perhaps the redhead had been unable to eat during the majority of the day spent in the Reikai offices, and so was compensating now.

Whatever his friend craved must not have been hard to find, as Kurama returned to him almost as soon as having left him. He inquired as to what was in the grocery bag that the Fox carried, but the latter stepped around this with a smile and the suggestion that they go home before it was completely dark.

His curiosity was quenched when they were again inside. Kurama settled him onto the couch and from the grocery bag produced a small spice cake. "It's a human custom on birthdays," explained Kurama. "Sometimes candles are placed into the cake and lit, and people sing…" He wore an expression that conveyed that he thought that Hiei would find that too much. Hiei responded with an expression letting him know that he was correct to think as such.

So instead the dessert was simply cut into pieces so that they could share it. "You didn't say earlier how Koenma reacted to your idea," Hiei said between bites.

Kurama stared thoughtfully at his portion of the cake. Hiei kept trying to discreetly push the subtle majority his way. Each time he pushed it back. "Of course you know that he carried it out in the end." His answer received a snort from the one who asked. "He was wary at first, but I can imagine that our situation will cause him a migraine or two before it's resolved. On that note… I have the impression that Koenma is apprehensive most about us being discovered, which is understandable. It wouldn't be ideal to be caught in the latter trimester or the delivery by an unsuspecting human." Voice laced with something heavy, he continued, "I'm prepared to work from home, though I'm worried that a home birth may attract neighborly attention, which wouldn't be good."

It was clear from Kurama's expression what he felt about the entire option. "I think it would be unhealthy for you to be shut up for so long," Hiei replied. "What about the Makai? I can rearrange some things on the centipede beforehand…"

They'd killed the cake. Kurama made to take their plates to the kitchen, but Hiei rose quicker and pushed him back onto the couch. Afterward the Koorime lay down with his head cradled in the other's lap. "So," said the Fox, smoothing back his hair, "how does it feel to be human?"

He twitched a little. "Don't expect me to start calling you 'Daddy'."

Kurama laughed. "I was never really into that sort of thing," he said wryly.

"Hn." Kurama felt so warm. Shifting a little, he peered up at his mate, and without ever breaking eye contact, snaked his hand up the redhead's shirt and pinched a nipple. His mate gasped and tensed. He smirked and switched to the other one. Kurama pressed his lips together and squirmed, then widened his eyes, startled.

Hiei did too, for the same reason. Something aside from the Fox's nipples had reacted to his touch. "I thought you said that you weren't able to right now?"

"I—I haven't been able to," the larger demon affirmed, blood rising to the surface of his cheeks.

Hiei noticed, and so tried to adjust his gaze. "… Do—Do you want to…?"

At first Kurama made no reply, still looking embarrassed. After a few moments, though, he spoke: "Humans also practice the custom on birthdays of giving gifts..." He was smirking a little now.

Normally Hiei wouldn't need further invitation, but he held back. "Could it hurt you?"

"Evidently you haven't read much of that book I bought."

"Why would I when you said we wouldn't be able to?" the Jaganshi retorted.

Green eyes rolled. "Consider it, at least. But no, Hiei, I'll be fine." When still he seemed hesitant, Kurama began undoing buttons, belt, zipper. Hiei started when his hand was grabbed, guided…

"You don't have to undress _me_ too," he said, holding down the Kitsune's hand. However, removing his clothes one-handed conflicted with balancing on the other appendage.

"Don't I?" Kurama teased. Before Hiei could respond he felt a tug on his back and his world was a semi-smothering veil of black fabric.

Maybe the spectacle of his face enshrouded so amused his lover, as it wasn't until he was completely naked save for the shirt that he was able to see again. The first image he was that of an amused smirk. "If it's my hair," he growled, "shut up."

Of course the smirk only grew in reaction. "It's okay, Hiei. By the time I'm finished, this will look tidy in comparison." As he said this, Hiei felt a pair of hands seize the back of his head and pull him down, down to the smirking pair of lips.

While Hiei submitted his mouth to Kurama's, he shifted his weight to his knees and gave his hands free range over the other demon's frame. His thumb brushed a nipple again and this time Kurama yelled and pressed against his pelvis. "Touch it again," gasped the Kitsune into his ear. Finding it a little odd that his touch wasn't being requested elsewhere, he nonetheless humored it, receiving another vocal token of appreciation. "You like that?" he murmured, pulling away from his mate's mouth, lowering his to Kurama's chest.

Yowling was his answer. He felt that surprise hardness pressed against his leg as Kurama pulled him closer. And then: "Ah—AH!" Kurama cried, clutching Hiei tightly while going rigid. Panting, he released the Jaganshi and fell back among the couch cushions.

Hiei for his part gawked. "They've … grown sensitive, huh?" he managed. He was still in a bothered state.

It didn't go unnoticed by Kurama. "They have," he affirmed, drawing his legs up around Hiei's hips. "But it's still your birthday."

The Fox was pressing against him to the point of near-impalement. Hiei gripped his friend's back and pushed in. Pleasured cries triggered a drive inside Hiei that dispelled any fears he had of harming the former. One hand slid up to the redhead's shoulder blades and dug into the skin there. His breath grew more and more hoarse; and then a loud groan, followed by deep sighs. "Are you okay?" he inquired, settling down beside his mate. Kurama answered in the affirmative, tousling his hair. He rolled to rest his head on the Fox's belly, and stared down at his leg. Unsoiled: Kurama's passion had been a dry one. Well, sensation was what mattered. "Your stomach's hard."

"It's growing," replied the other.

The child, or himself? Hiei noticed that his pillow wasn't quite as flat as usual. "I'll have my apartments arranged soon, while you're still able to manage on your own."

"Hm." More hair tousling. "Come to bed with me, Hiei. I'm tired." He grunted, but allowed Kurama to get up, and followed him. As they lay down, Kurama laughed a little, and quipped, "Happy birthday, Hiei."

* * *

Yusuke was eating dinner when a shadow fell over his table. He looked up, then started. "What the…?"

"We have a visitor," Keiko explained. He could see that. "How are you, Hiei? We've heard what Kurama and Koenma did."

Her husband snorted. "Yeah. So what, now you're like a hick or something?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes, but didn't reply. He reached for something, and Yusuke tensed, wondering if he'd cracked the wrong joke on the wrong day. But rather than the katana, Hiei dangled a key in front of him. "What's this?"

"What do you think?" the Jaganshi retorted. "Kurama will have to relocate to Demon World before giving birth. I need to make our rooms more … _maternal _before he blows up."

"So, why the key?"

Something resembling a sneer crossed the petite demon's face. "You keep saying that you want to help out, right? Go over and check on him while I'm gone."

Considering the events of more recent history, Yusuke was surprised that Hiei would trust him with this. "Uh, sure Hiei, I'd be happy to look after Kurama…"

"Don't hold yourself too high up, Detective. His parents don't live so far away." Stepping out the back door, Hiei called over his shoulder, "He's still sick in the mornings," before vanishing.

* * *

When Yusuke knocked on the door the next day no one answered. Well, Hiei had given him a key… Letting himself in, he noticed that all the blinds were still drawn and all the lights were off. "Hello?" Was Kurama even up…?

A soft voice responded from the bedroom: "_… Yusuke?_" It was so faint—

So was Kurama's energy. "Yeah," he called, opening the bedroom door. He glanced at the bed. Empty.

"Over here, Yusuke."

He followed the voice, and started. "Are you okay?" he asked, though it wasn't an inquiry; Kurama sat slumped against the wall.

Smiling a little pitifully, the Fox answered, "I'm feeling slightly weak this morning."

"_Slightly?_" Yusuke pulled him to his feet, ushered him to the bed. "How long were you over there?" He received that same pitiful smile and a sheepish "Not terribly," which conjured an alarmed look. Good thing Hiei'd given him a key, though if he'd had to he could have kicked in the door or something. Kurama looked so run though… "Could I make you some coffee?"

The Fox shook his head. "Caffeine's bad for the child."

"Okay, then how about breakfast?" His friend blanched a little. "Wait; morning sickness?" Kurama nodded, face set in a rueful expression. "You should at least _try _to eat something, Fox-boy."

"I know," agreed Kurama in a tired voice. "If I could try something light…"

Yusuke set to making toast and broth while Kurama at his insistence remained in bed. A thought came to mind. Hovering at the bedroom door, he asked, "You have any herbs or something that could settle your stomach at all?"

For about a minute his question went unanswered. "Second drawer, by the stove," his friend finally said. "There ought to be a paper bag labeled 'catnip'."

There was, and soon after he served Kurama a liquid and toast breakfast. He sat at the foot of the bed while the redhead ate gingerly. After a while of watching this he demanded "How're you supposed to gain any weight if _this _is all you can stomach?"

"It passes by early afternoon," replied the Fox. "I'll be able to eat heavier then." Yusuke still wore a dubious look. "Don't worry, Yusuke; that pot belly you've asked about has already begun to grow."

"Huh?"

Setting his meal on the bedside table, Kurama unbuttoned his shirt and showed the brunette the abdominal protrusion that had budded. "Neither the child nor I will likely become malnourished."

Despite Yusuke's endeavor to not do anything that might make Kurama uncomfortable, he couldn't help himself, and reached out his hand toward the new bulge. It was firm, and beneath he could feel a faint energy spark from the occupant inside. He knotted his eyebrows together, and gave Kurama another concerned look. "You're not like this every morning, are you?"

"Not in the least. This is just a particularly unkind morning." Sighing a little, the Kitsune admitted, "It nonetheless is wearing on me even more than I had anticipated. I'm a little worried over what my health might be when we relocate."

It hadn't been so long, Yusuke reflected, since the prohibition on harming humans, not to mention _eating _them, had become law in the Makai. Many demons were still adjusting, some of Yusuke's own friends among them. He sympathized, but at the same time worried that the presence of a susceptible human body might tempt even the strongest-willed demon suffering withdrawals. "Is it so important that you give birth in the demon world?" he asked. "Couldn't you stay here?"

Kurama shook his head. "Koenma's anxious about this entire ordeal, and understandably. It hasn't been stated, but I think that it'd be best that I voluntarily remove myself from the general human population before less pleasant alternatives present themselves."

"That's bullshit!" Yusuke growled, pissed at such a scenario. "You could have the kid at Grandma's; you wouldn't be hurting anyone. They shouldn't be able to deport you."

"They won't," Kurama said gently. "Because I'll already be in Makai, and there will be no cause for the more zealous Reikai authorities to seek my removal from the Ningenkai. And no prompt for them to seek something more permanent." He tried extinguishing Yusuke's fiery face with one of calm acceptance. "Besides, Koenma's gone to the trouble to help accommodate our … abnormal situation, and I'd hate to contribute to his expiring from a nervous breakdown. Especially before he does the paperwork for the child." As intended, this last bit made his friend's expression lighten somewhat. "Don't worry over me, Yusuke. A Makai birth doesn't upset me, and it's unlikely that any of Mukuro's subjects would be eager to harm the bearer of her heir's heir." He took a bite of toast, and another, and gave the brunette a reassuring smile.

"Whatever," Yusuke grumbled. He supposed that already having experience in self-exile made Kurama patient with this sort of stuff. Considering this morning's events, he said, "Your energy's gone down." A nod. That couldn't be a help with his friend being sick. "… Could I try something?"

"Such as?" Suddenly Yusuke had moved up the bed and to his side, and locked arms around him. "What are you—?" he demanded adamantly, automatically tensing up.

Yusuke tightened his grip a little in response. "Relax." Of course Kurama didn't. "I'm not trying to cop a feel or anything, Fox-boy, so _chill_. Your energy's weak. Mine's strong, so maybe I can…"

He trailed off, but Kurama soon realized what he was getting at, and eased up. Something was spreading through him. The aches and dizziness that had become his day's routine greeters lessened some. Yusuke was supplementing his energy.

"Feeling better?" the brunette asked, as Kurama grew more limp in his arms. Another nod. "Anytime you want me to do that, and Hiei could probably do it for you too." Just a slight, affirming "uh" this time; Kurama was a noodle.

They maintained this position for a while, Yusuke feeding more energy into Kurama, who stayed still in his arms. After a while he thought the Fox had drifted off. Satisfied now with his companion's livelier complexion, he released his hold and moved away. He jumped, though, as almost immediately after his letting go Kurama started as though from a trance. "Geez! I thought you'd—Do you feel less shitty now?"

Taking stock of his self, Kurama found that he did indeed feel better than he had on any recent morning, and told Yusuke so. "Thank you," he said, standing, pleased that the room didn't spin or contort as he did so.

"No problem." It was his own pleasure that he'd actually been able to do something curative for his friend, for all the time he had had to see the redhead hurt. "Anything that I can do…"

"Actually, Yusuke." Kurama gave him an imploring smile. "I think that I can stomach more now."

* * *

**A/N: **Kurama's adopting Hiei in lieu of marriage is actually not unheard of. I got the idea while reading an article on the _Washington Blade_'s website some months back, about how one person in a same-sex relationship might adopt the other as legal kin. It's also practiced and called _yôshien-gumi_ in Japan. 


	6. Chapter VI

This was a productive weekend; finished all my current work for my classes, and a new chapter! We're staying in the Ningenkai for another chapter or two, and then the setting is going to switch over to Mukuro's fortress in the Makai. And so...

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter VI  
February 3, 2008

"You're sure you'll be okay? I could come back over."

"I'm sure, Yusuke." Kurama sounded drowsy. "I'll be going to bed shortly anyhow."

"Okay, fine—Wait, have you taken your vitamins?" After receiving Kurama's assurances, Yusuke (reluctantly) bade his friend good night and hung up. "Usually I trust Fox-boy on things like this, but what if this morning repeats itself tomorrow?"

"So call him in the morning," Keiko said.

Yusuke shrugged, nodded, and then grabbed his lighter and made for the door. Staring at the cigarette he'd taken out, he paused, and remarked thoughtfully, "I think I'm going to quit."

"Quit what?"

"Quit _this_." Yusuke wagged the cigarette in front of her face.

After the initial narrowed eyes, she arched a skeptical brow. "Are you serious?"

"Well, yeah. I won't be able to smoke them around Kurama's baby, and you and he hate it when I do it anyhow, so." He shrugged again. "This will be my last pack."

Deciding that he was being serious, she responded with a large smile. "Good. And if you manage to quit now we won't have to worry about it when we have our own kids."

Suddenly Yusuke laughed, though not in his usual manner. "Ahahahaha; yeah…. Wait." He gave her a defensive look. "_If?_"

* * *

The agonized sound of vomiting echoed in the hallway outside the bathroom. Shiori felt horrible. "I'm sorry, Shuichi," she said passionately. "I didn't know you weren't able to have fish right now."

Gasping, Kurama groaned between heaves, "Neither did I." Flushing the toilet, he rested his forehead against the cool tile of the wall. Which was worse: this morning or yesterday?

Shiori brought him a rinse for his mouth. Stroking his hair sympathetically, she said, "The smell will stay in the kitchen for a while, I'm afraid. Perhaps we could go to the park for a while until it airs out."

"The park sounds nice," he replied, wiping his mouth. "There isn't much wind; we could bring the information I wanted to show you." He trusted that she would react to the content more maturely than Yusuke had when flipping through it the previous day.

Fortunately two decades had accounted for something. Her eyebrows lifted, her eyes widened a little as they scanned this or that paragraph, but it was a far cry from a boisterous "YOU'RE GONNA DO _THAT!?_"

"How do you feel about all of this?" she eventually asked him, switching her gaze from the literature to his face.

Directing his own eyes to a bed of flowers opposite their bench, he replied in a suppressed tone, "I would rather it be that I wasn't going to lac…" Silly as he knew it was, he couldn't finish. Generalizing his thoughts, he tried again: "I'll adjust."

She rubbed his shoulder. He wasn't prone to typical vanity, but lately he'd been unable to hide a certain degree of insecurity with himself. Even if he didn't want to speak of it, she figured he needed comfort nonetheless. "Shuichi, it'll be fine." The redhead managed to nod a little. "What is Hiei's home in the Demon World like?"

Still somewhat despondent, Kurama replied, "He has apartments in a warlord's gargantuan mobile insect-shaped fortress." Observing her facial reaction, he added, "Hiei's desire to make his home more 'homey' really wasn't an excuse to escape me and my whining."

"You're uncomfortable is all," she reasoned. "But beating yourself up over every little thing won't make you feel better." He nodded his understanding. Hoping to distract him, and genuinely curious herself, she prodded, "Ah, Shuichi… What is the demon's concept of 'homey'?"

* * *

"You look like you've been up all night," Keiko remarked.

"Feels longer than that," Kuwabara replied wearily, flicking his tongue into the contents of his coffee cup, finding with a grimace that it was still too hot. "Studying's a bitch sometimes. So where's Urameshi hiding at?"

His inquiry perfectly coincided with a crash in the kitchen, followed by a "Mother FU—"

"YUSUKE!" Keiko bellowed, drowning out her husband's exclamation.

The sudden boom had caused Kuwabara to jump. Some coffee splashed out of his cup and onto his hand. Wincing, his licked up the mess and casually inquired: "What's eating him?"

"He wants to quit smoking for Kurama's baby."

Translation: withdrawal. "I guess that technically the smoke's worse, but I don't think I'd want to see him around Kurama while he's being a bitch. Both of them having a bad mood swing at the same time could probably kill someone." Thinking on it, he began to laugh. "Hey, they can get pissed and gain weight together. And I thought the _father _was supposed to have sympathy traits!"

"Shut up, idiot."

"Idiot" started. The retort came not from Yusuke (who was still grumbling in the kitchen), but from a shorter culprit, leaning in front of the partition between front room and kitchen. "Where did you come from?" the carrot top demanded, eyeing Hiei suspiciously.

Instead of the one asked, Yusuke poked his head in and answered sourly, "_Munchkin_-ass apparently forgot that the back door's for taking garbage out, not letting it in." Hiei's eyebrows gathered to the point that they formed an austere black V at the top of the bridge of his nose. "Why do you think I dropped that shit back there?" the taller brunette continued.

Keiko shrugged. "To be honest, I thought that maybe your hands were shaking again."

"Geez, stop making me should like … an epileptic or something!"

"Epileptics have _seizures_," Kuwabara muttered. "How's Kurama doing, Shrimp?"

"I haven't gone home yet."

"You know," Yusuke said tersely, "I found him on your guys' _floor _the other day.".

"You think I gave you a key just so you could watch him sleep?" Hiei snapped back. Trying to shake himself of Yusuke's bad mood contagion, he paid attention instead to Keiko. "I wanted to bring breakfast to Kurama."

"I'm already in the kitchen," Yusuke broke in, disappearing from view. "_I'll _do it."

Hiei eyed the space Yusuke had just occupied disdainfully. "He gave up cigarettes?"

"For your kid. He didn't want to increase its chances of stunted growth."

He chose to ignore Kuwabara's insomniac wit. "Someone of his discipline should be less infantile about it," he decreed gruffly.

Maybe Yusuke heard and considered this sentiment; he seemed slightly less agitated when he brought Kurama's hash browns out to Hiei. "Make sure that he eats it," the former detective lectured. "He needs to get fatter. If he's sick give him some catnip tea."

The Jaganshi "Hn"-ed and rolled his eyes. "Apparently Kurama acquired a second mate while I was gone," he half-growled, casting Yusuke a scathing look.

"I think it's sort of cute," Keiko opined.

Hiei snorted (if only she knew), paid her, and left.

* * *

Kurama was on the whole dressed and groomed for the day, but appeared to be dozing on the couch when Hiei slipped into the apartment. After taking a quick look around to make certain that the Fox hadn't drifted off with anything on the stove, he set his mate's breakfast on the counter, and then took a look at the demon on the couch.

It looked like Kurama's waist might have thickened a little since he'd gone. At least the morning sickness wasn't hindering the pregnant demon's nourishment. Finding a spot on the edge not occupied by the sleeping redhead's feet, Hiei sat down on the couch and rubbed one of the legs curled near him. Soon it shifted, stretched; its owner rolled over, lifted one eyelid, and looked at him. "When did you get back?" Kurama asked groggily.

"Just now," he answered, patting the leg near him. "I brought you breakfast from the ramen house." Kurama smiled thanks were interrupted by a wide yawn. "If you want to go back to sleep for a while—"

The Fox shook his head. "I've slept a lot as it is." He stood, retrieved his meal on the counter. "Strange; hash browns generally aren't on the menu."

"Special. The Detective wants to fatten you up."

"He's already begun that," Kurama said in a dry voice, draping one arm round his waist. Instead of eating his breakfast, he set it down and began rummaging in the refrigerator and cupboards.

Hiei quickly noticed. "You're not allowed to skip meals," he declared sternly.

"I'm not." The redhead set a bottle of ketchup on the counter, and then retrieved a knife to cut the onion he held. "It needs doctoring."

After said "doctoring," however, Hiei thought that "smothering" might have been more appropriate. "Your tastes have grown pungent," the Jaganshi observed when his friend began at last toe at. His comment was acknowledged with a semi-nod between hasty mouthfuls. "You'll have to tell me what foods you want stocked when we move." Another nod, though Kurama paused a little this time. Hiei saw the strange look on the other demon's face. "Are you okay?"

Not immediately answering, the Kitsune devoured a third of his meal before speaking. "It sounds so permanent," he replied. "I know that it isn't, and I have said that giving birth there doesn't upset me, but…"

Understood. The Makai was no longer Kurama's primary home. "I doubt we'll even be gone half a year," Hiei said. "Not everything is finished yet, but you won't recognize it when we get there. That won't be for a while yet." He stressed this last statement, wearing what he hoped was an assuring look. His mate watched him a moment or two, and then returned the look, and resumed eating. "Yusuke cooked for you while I was gone." He received some mumbled monosyllabic affirmation. "He said something about finding you on the floor."

"I was very lightheaded that morning," Kurama answered. He pressed a napkin to his lips, and then rubbed his stomach as it groaned a little from the large meal he'd just devoured. "He found a way to make me feel less sick."

"I thought you already knew about the catnip?"

"Not that." Kurama explained what Yusuke had done with his energy.

The Koorime listened dispassionately, concealing his mild ire that it was Yusuke who had gotten the idea. When Kurama was finished Hiei merely shrugged, and said, "I can do that for you as well." And then he changed the subject. "The Detective's trying to quit smoking."

"Yes; he told me so that other day."

"He was being a bigger ass earlier than Mukuro on her cycle's worst days."

Kurama looked thoughtful. "Well, their behavior would be on account of neither of them feeling good. This won't be easy for Yusuke."

"Keiko said he was doing it for you and our child." Kurama nodded. "He's lucky. Apparently she's clueless."

Suddenly Kurama looked uncomfortable. "Keiko would—will—be upset, I'm sure. But it isn't fair that she be left in the dark."

"It's _disrespectful_," Hiei muttered.

Looking more uncomfortable, Kurama agreed, "It is." Normally Hiei didn't express so much of any sentiment toward their female friend. "And Yusuke needs to tell her." Hiei coughed something sounding like "Unlikely." "Perhaps," he admitted, "without prompting." Giving the darker demon an intense look with his eyes, he said, "It is important that _Yusuke _tells her, Hiei. I will discuss it with him."

Catching what the Fox implied, Hiei narrowed his own eyes defensively and nodded. "She'll likely be angry with you also. I would not turn her on you."

An interesting expression took over his lover's face, a mixture of resignation and relief. "She has a right to be angry with me," said the pregnant demon quietly.

At the sight of Kurama's discomfort, Hiei abandoned the subject. Instead he moved closer and pressed his hand against the hardness in the redhead's belly. "Have you thought of names?"

"I don't know its sex," Kurama negated.

"You could come up with a few to choose from."

"What would _you _like to name it?"

Kurama smelled so nice. Though away only briefly, the Jaganshi had missed this scent. "I like Kaoru (1)," he murmured, though baby names were no longer the main thought on his mind. He leaned in closer and kissed Kurama's neck. Almost immediately he felt a pair of arms wrap tightly round his back. "How do your nipples feel?"

Not the most romantic question in the world, Kurama thought. "Ten-_der_"—a hand slid into the Kitsune's shirt and brushed on. It remained; his eyes opened wider and his teeth bit into his lip as its play grew more familiar. He caught a glimpse of garnet leering up at him immediately before a finger and thumb pinched him and he yelped. "Y-You'd better not just be playing," he gasped, twitching in his seat.

Usually it took Hiei longer to agitate his mate to this degree. "Where?" Promptly Kurama pulled away and knelt facing out, hands gripping the couch arm. Hiei heard a zipper, and the redhead's pants began to slide down. Quickly he hastened the process, baring a pale pair of buttocks in seconds. "I think you've gained weight back here too," he remarked in admiration. "Back here" tensed ever so slightly, and he hastily said, "I like it," squeezing for emphasis. Anxious to keep Kurama in the mood, he leaned forward and tugged on the former's shirt to play with the nipples again. This earned a loud moan and the pressing of those buttocks against his hips. He needed to stop wearing so many belts, he decided as he fumbled with said apparel as best he could one-handed. Free at last, he kissed the small of Kurama's back before stretching out and mounting the Kitsune.

Careful where he placed his arms—one across his mate's hips, the other across the chest—he tightened his hold and entered Kurama, who let out something like a strangled yowl. "You … okay…?" he asked, resuming his nipple-play. His answer came as a sob, which he thought contained an "Uh-huh." Any doubts were dispelled when the body under his pressed against his hips. Pinching a nipple (Kurama _lowed_), Hiei touched his forehead against the redhead's shoulder and slammed his pelvis forward, grunting, Kurama's moans pleasant in his ear.

Who peaked first wasn't certain; Kurama's was dry again. It may have been the only thing dry, as both were drenched in sweat when they had finished. Kurama lay belly-down with his head against the couch arm. "Should you lie like that?" Hiei inquired.

"You switch modes fast," the Fox remarked wryly, but he did roll onto his side. Hiei sat up beside him, still panting. Kurama groaned, "This is soaked," and wriggled out of his shirt and tossed it to the floor. The skin around his nipples was faintly yellow-green, making Hiei start a little. "They're very tender," he said, noting his lover's reaction. "And they'll probably be more tender now."

"Sorry," the smaller demon murmured, watching Kurama trace a finer along one of the bruises. The nipple was pert. He soon realized that the Fox was shivering and spread out his cloak over him. "You're still filling out," he observed. "How long do you think you'll continue working?"

Kurama was still anticipating some coworker's commentary on his changing physiology. "I'll stay in my office as long as possible before anything extraordinary becomes noticeable. After, I would like to continue working from here. It would be inconspicuous to suddenly disappear from work altogether, and I'd prefer to maintain my place as best as possible."

Understandable. Hiei dwelt on Kurama's word choice. Inconspicuous. Koenma certainly wouldn't like that. He shared this thought with his mate, along with the consequent one that if a demon could not be gotten as mediator between their rooms in Alaric and Kurama's work in the human world, perhaps for the sake of conspicuousness some Reikai worker could. "You'd be able to work the entire time, or at least almost."

"Possibly," the Kitsune replied, his features indicating his pleasure with the idea. "You do know, though, that after the birth and paperwork is all done, we may have exhausted any and all possible favors from Koenma."

Several thick pieces of red hair obscured part of Kurama's face. Finally Hiei pushed these pieces aside. "We won't need any after. You've done well to see to that." Kissing Kurama on the forehead, he rose, pressing on the chest of the other demon, who tried to follow suit. "Stay down," he said. "You work tomorrow; you rest today."

For once Kurama didn't contest. He saw no point in arguing presently, considering the weak support that the last few days would have provided. "Perhaps I needn't worry for my health after all," he said, watching Hiei go into the kitchen. "Everyone's so ardent to see me well-fed and well-rested."

"You're just usually so stubborn that you pay little attention to other people's advice." Hiei poured water to prepare coffee for himself, and poured milk for Kurama.

His assertion drew a knowing smirk from the one on the couch. "Talking to one's self is a symptom of schizophrenia, Hiei."

"_You're _the one who refers to yourself in the third person!" the Jaganshi retorted.

* * *

(1) This is a pun. Kaoru essentially means "fragrance" or "to be fragrant." 


	7. Chapter VII

Here's an, ah, eventful chapter—and I shall say right off that I do apologize (sort of) for ending it where I do, ha-ha.

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter VII  
March 2, 2008

Kazuya closed his office door, and turned around to look at the one seated across his own seat at his desk. "Did your other boss pinpoint our correspondent yet?"

" 'Other boss'? I don't work for him anymore. Koenma is now more like a friend whom I've caused a surge in paperwork for lately. But yes, we do have our correspondent. She's worked with us for years, so he thought her best qualified to do it. Her name is Botan."

"Is she—Does she look human?"

"Yes; she used to shadow Yusuke at his school when we were younger." As an afterthought, he said, "She does have blue hair—I don't know if she dyes it or not—, but in this day in age that betrays nothing."

The older man laughed. "Will we meet her beforehand or should I keep an eye out for blue hair in the office?"

"Beforehand, probably. It's more practical."

Nodding, Kazuya took his seat, and switched to a more personal aspect of the topic. "When are you going?" Shuichi had been working from home almost full-time for a few weeks, appearing in the office perhaps once every several days, such as today. The redhead was apprehensive about these visits, understandably. Even though he came and went from Kazuya's office discretely on these check-ins, he never did go completely unseen, and his step-father was subject to the occasional inquiry over his health.

"Soon, most likely," his stepson answered. "How soon, I don't know. Hiei's adoption still has to be finalized, and I should buy the items that we'll need for the child…" Red brows furrowed in contemplation as a mental to-do list was consulted. "… Those will have to be sent ahead to Alaric, and some of our other things—And anything that isn't going should be transferred to a storage unit, I believe. There's no point in paying several months' rent for space that we won't be occupying, and when we do return I thought that we should consider finding somewhere slightly larger…"

Just listing these tasks made Shuichi look worn out. Kazuya certainly didn't envy him the chip that his shoulders carried. "Save your money. There's room at home to keep some of your things."

"You're sure? I wouldn't want—"

"No problem at all," Kazuya insisted. "We haven't made much of your old room, and you and Hiei could use that money for more important expenses, especially after the birth." Suspecting a protest impending, he squeezed the Fox's shoulder tightly, and emphasized: "What's most important right now is that everything is done that needs to be for you two and the baby. There's no shame in accepting support from the family." Shuichi agreed, even if his tone still held some reservations. "Would you like to go out for lunch?"

Every time he came to check in, his stepfather would offer to take him out, or would order something in for him. "Not today, he deferred. "My clothes are getting too tight."

Shuichi was becoming increasingly self-conscious. "If you need to buy a larger size—"

"Actually, Kuwabara has offered to lend me some of his things." The younger man rose, adjusting his shirt. "I need to go, Kazuya. Have a nice day."

On his way out he almost crumpled under a few curious stares. Kazuya, much to his gratitude, had authored the official story of his absence from work. He was taking time off for health-related reasons. In addition, he was taking medicine, which contained a steroid responsible for his fuller frame. When he'd first heard this invention he'd almost exhausted himself thanking his stepfather. It'd been refreshing for someone else to cover for him.

Today, however, he felt worn out and—to be honest—downright shitty, story or no. He wanted to go home and collapse on the bed and not get up for a good long while. To forget about everything that needed done before their relocation; to forget about the fact that he'd so far accomplished almost none of said things; to forget about the swelling timeline in his middle.

Unfortunately it wasn't so easy.

Hiei wasn't there when he came home. On the table he found a note, something that he never would have expected from the other demon prior to this pregnancy, saying that his lunch was in the fridge and that the clothes from Kuwabara were on the couch. Sighing, he took a seat beside the bag of borrowed clothing and began to sort through its contents. He came across a long-sleeved button-up and switched out his current shirt for it, feeling a little more comfortable in the looser garment.

The redhead took his lunch out of the fridge and tried not to eat it too quickly. While he ate he drew up a list of what needed done in order of priority. Baby clothes were already taken care of—Shiori and Keiko had both gone with him (the latter being a rather awkward event) and helped wash and fold them. They were all packed in boxes now, ready for the move. After thinking on it Kurama realized that he might as well draw up a separate list for all baby items, there was that much to worry about. Groaning, he lay on his side and hid his face in a pillow.

A door opened, shut. "Whoa—Are you okay?"

That wasn't Hiei's voice. "Don't ask, Yusuke," he muttered. It occurred to him that the brunette hadn't returned the key to their apartment.

And wasn't paying him any heed right now. "Are you going to be sick?"

He lifted his head and saw his friend staring down at him worryingly. "No, Yusuke; I just don't feel good."

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Did he look tired? "Apparently not enough for sufficiency," he admitted. "I have so much to do…"

"You don't have to do everything on your own, Fox-boy." Yusuke looked over the list. "This, this, this, this … Shit, you know that your mom and the girls would probably do half of this stuff for you if you let them, right?" Kurama was massaging his forehead and didn't answer. "Hey, do you have a headache?" Kurama nodded. "Maybe you should take a nap."

Something in how Yusuke suggested this sounded condescending to Kurama, however beat he felt. "I'm not a child," he retorted. "I'm a little tired, but I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Yusuke!" The brunette quickly clammed up. Resting his head in his hand, Kurama said, "I can eliminate one thing from my list now. Yusuke?"

"Yeah?" the other man answered quickly, eager to get back on his friend's good side.

Taking a few deep breaths, Kurama said quietly: "You need to tell Keiko."

… _Fuck. _Yusuke decided to delay the inevitable, by about two seconds. "Tell Keiko what?"

"That Clown's clothes look better on you than I thought they would."

Absorbed in their discussion, both Kurama and Yusuke hadn't noticed Hiei's return. "Kuwabara was very generous to loan me these clothes," the Fox said. "Don't insult him."

While Kurama was distracted, Yusuke steered the topic away from his wife. "Hey Hiei." He held up the list that Kurama had written. "This shit needs to be done before you guys leave. I thought that we could divide it up with everyone so that Kurama doesn't go into early labor trying to do it all himself."

Wrong thing to say. "Do you realize that if I _did _go into labor right now the child would most likely _die_, Yusuke?" Part of Kurama was appreciative of Yusuke's efforts, but another part was exactly what the former spirit detective had said he was—tired and stressed out—and also agitated and currently overpowering. To his frustration he discovered that his view of the world had suddenly grown blurry, hot and stinging. Not wanting another weakness of his appraised, he bowed his head and blotted his eyes on Kuwabara's—well, his, now—sleeve.

Nonetheless his two companions weren't dense. Hiei shifted his eyes from his upset mate to a now guilty looking Yusuke. "If our friends want to help," he said, "I won't chase them off. Go see what you can do with that list."

… Was Hiei giving him an escape route? "Yeah," he replied quickly, folding the list—which he did have every intention of spreading around—and placing it in his pocket. "Um, get some rest, okay, Fox-boy?" He anticipated some sort of repercussion, but Kurama made no response. Giving Hiei a look that was meant to convey "Good luck," he slunk out of the apartment.

When Kurama heard the door shut he said in a hoarse voice, "You'd think that by now he'd learn not to call me that. It's inaccurate."

Hiei noticed that the redhead's shoulders had begun to shake, and wondered how he ought to reply. "You do realize that my species, one of them anyway, is constructed in a similar way? But Yukina"—even if she didn't know it—"is my sister, not my brother; … even if that might have kept Kuwabara from every being interested in her…" Kurama didn't comment, but Hiei really hadn't expected him to. He could hear Kurama taking deep breaths. Trying to calm down, he figured. Quietly he inquired: "Have you taken your shots?" He received a nod. Kurama wouldn't take his vitamins until this evening. Sighing, the Kitsune shifted, stretching out his legs until his feet extended almost beyond the underside of the coffee table. Risk time: "Yusuke's right. The child's getting bigger, so you need more rest." No protests; Kurama rose and went into the bedroom. Through the open door Hiei saw him practically collapse onto their bed. Waiting while his lover situated himself, Hiei then discarded his outer layers of clothing and joined the other demon.

Kurama heard the mattress groan as Hiei lay down beside him, felt a pair of toned arms wind round his disappearing waist. "I'm not sure if that will work, Hiei," he murmured. Sharing energy would do little for mental exhaustion.

"It might help—at least lessen the physical symptoms."

His head _did _hurt, as did his back, his feet… "If you want to try," the redhead conceded, relaxing his body to his lover's hold.

Within five minutes Kurama had fallen asleep. Good—Hiei hoped that he stayed that way for a long while. Later the Koorime would have to get up and see to the house and to dinner, and maybe contemplate over that list (he would have to call Yusuke, damn it). But for now he lay quietly, he hands up Kurama's shirt and resting on the stomach beneath, feeding his energy into the run-down body beside him.

Something occurred to him after he'd slipped into a sort of waking sleep, which of course pulled him up from the fuzzy doze: Kurama was broaching the subject of Keiko with Yusuke, when he had interrupted earlier.

He released his hold on Kurama, not wanting to put anything negative into his mate.

* * *

"What about these ones?"

Kurama looked at the boxes. "My parents' house," he answered, giving Kuwabara an appreciative look as the latter hauled the boxes to the designated grouping of items.

"You guys are going light to Mukuro's place, huh?"

At first glance it appeared that way, but the psychic had yet to examine all the child items that they were sending ahead. "Hiei's apartment already has the basic necessities." And probably more, since the Jaganshi had made his renovations to the place.

Kuwabara stifled a laugh at the idea of Hiei's housekeeping, but then he supposed that the Shrimp did a lot of the stuff around here—he had to increase his efforts for fear of offending Kurama. "Well I guess I'm out of here. Do you want anything to eat before I go?"

"I ate recently."

"Okay, what about a pick-me-up?"

Lately anyone who could would offer to supplement Kurama's energy with their own, and he didn't always turn them down. He had found that though it didn't come in the largest increments, he liked Yukina's best because it was similar to Hiei's. (Hiei had appeared somewhat disturbed when Kurama voiced this discovery.) "I'm fine, thank you."

After Kuwabara made sure that Kurama didn't need this or that, he left, and the Fox took a seat and turned on the television. Hiei was out running some errands, and Kurama wasn't sure when he'd be back. Well, at least that was one less thing on the list: Hiei's adoption had been finalized the previous week. They'd had a small celebration, followed by a smaller, private one between the two demons. Since then the Kitsune had felt a little less stress over how everything was progressing.

Nonetheless he felt restless. He fidgeted on the couch, trying to get comfortable, but to his dismay the only position where his back didn't complain gave him a view of his growing stomach and little else. Disliking this arrangement, he shifted, and let out an involuntary cry of distress when he found that he couldn't straighten all the way back up.

"Do you need help?"

Hiei was giving him a curious look that made him blush deeply. Embarrassed, he only nodded, and let his mate assist him. He tensed, however, when the shorter demon absently patted his abdomen afterward. "Please don't do that," he said edgily, crossing his arms over the swell.

Unsure of what'd been done, Hiei inquired, "Are you in pain?"

Kurama shook his head. "No; just … having it stick out like that doesn't give you leave to touch it whenever you please."

Lovely, thought Hiei. "I'm sorry," he replied, holding up both hands away from the body part that his lover had grown increasingly sensitive over. He left the redhead to ruminate and went into the kitchen. As he dished up some ice cream he felt Kurama's eyes one him. "Would you like some?"

"I can't eat that right now," was the curt reply. Hiei shrugged, and ate leaning against the counter. It didn't escape him how Kurama kept moving around in an agitated manner. "Have you been out at all today?" he asked. A normal person shouldn't be kept in close quarters all day; a Kitsune, even a pregnant one, more so.

"Would you like me to leave?"

Ignoring his mate's tone, Hiei calmly confirmed: "Yes, I would. Visit your mother or go to the park; but go outside for a while." He'd offer his companionship, but this would invite the accusation that he was being over-protective.

Kurama didn't reply. Instead, he retrieved from the closet the long gray jacket he currently favored, and walked out.

His silence didn't concern Hiei, who'd grown accustomed to these moods. The fresh air and presence among the larger world would revive the Fox, and he'd return in a better spirit. Usually, at least. Meanwhile, Hiei took stock of what was boxed up and placed and what was not, and holding his ice cream in one hand began to further organize things.

* * *

Hiei was right. The temperate weather and the sights and smells of the autumnal season helped Kurama relax a little as he walked. Perhaps he needed more regular exercise to prevent some of his edginess. At least in the Makai he wouldn't have to worry so much over discretion when he went out.

Shiori had seen him lose his composure too many times recently for his pride. He opted to visit Keiko and Yusuke.

Both of them gave him a sympathetic look as he rather sheepishly accounted the day's emotional mishaps thus far. "You know it's okay to lose your cool once in a while, right?" Yusuke said to him. The brunette was working in the kitchen, and had offered him a chair against the opposite wall.

"Once in a while," Kurama echoed, sitting down. They both knew that he'd lost it more frequently than that recently.

"Yeah, well, you get more free cards right now, because you have more cause to." He gave the Fox a lighthearted look, and watched as his friend tried to reciprocate it. "It's kind of slow here right now. You want me to make you some lunch, share energy with you, give you a massage?"

Overdone, thought Kurama, but he managed a smile and declined. "I had a late breakfast."

He received a concerned look. "Were you sick this morning?"

"No." His morning sickness had on the whole gone away, thankfully. "I slept in."

Yusuke nodded. "You guys leave pretty soon, don't you?"

"In two weeks."

"Maybe after work I can help you move some more stuff," he said. After a minute or so, he added, "It's going to suck that you'll be so far away. I'm, uh, going to miss watching you…"

Kurama raised an eyebrow—and then looked down, and then back to Yusuke. "Don't tell me that you're into—?"

"Not like that," Yusuke said hastily. "It's just interesting. You look interesting."

He gave the brunette an ironic look. "I look fat," he corrected disdainfully.

To his surprise Yusuke donned a hard expression and practically barked "No, you don't." Kurama stared, taken aback. Features relaxing, Yusuke crossed the floor and stood beside his chair, looking down at him. "No," his companion said in a gentler voice, "you don't." He flinched as a thumb unexpectedly stroked his cheek. "You've gotten softer. It reminds me of how you used to look, when I first met you."

There was an intensity in those eyes that made Kurama self-conscious. Forcing a laugh, he pulled his head back. "So when we met you thought I was fa—"

A tingling sensation stifled him. Lips pressed against his own. He froze, shocked.

Pulling away, Yusuke gave the Kitsune an endearing look. "You were beautiful then," he murmured. "And you're beautiful now."

This declaration, combined with the kiss, overwhelmed Kurama. Hastily he redirected his gaze away from Yusuke, anywhere but at Yusuke—and he went rigid.

A white-faced Keiko stood in the doorway.


	8. Chapter VIII

**A/N:** Let's call this the transitional chapter. Here marks the end of something private and in one location, and the launch into something more public and in a new location. The first section or so of the next chapter will still be set in the Human World, but everything after that for a while will take place (mainly) in the Demon World. And of course now that Keiko's seen that kiss hell will break loose…

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter VIII  
March 24, 2008

Yusuke saw his friend's tense reaction. Immediately he donned an apologetic look; he had acted too rashly. "Kurama, I…"

The Fox watched him with stricken eyes, that shifted, and settled on something behind him. Turning, he saw the cause of Kurama's discontent, and suddenly felt his middle compress painfully. "Keiko," he managed to choke out. He stared at his pale-faced wife, then at his pale-faced friend, and again at his wife. "Keiko, I … I'll talk to you in the other room?" She gawked back at him, and then withdrew beyond the doorway. Yusuke wanted to barf. Clenching his teeth, he looked at Kurama, who appeared similarly nauseated. Forcing a minute smile, he said, "Well, you can tell Hiei that you got some fresh air, at least. Maybe … you should tell him sooner rather than later."

Kurama understood the hint. Still shaken up from Yusuke's actions toward him, and from Keiko viewing such, he only nodded mutely, and as nimbly as he could, considering his current physical condition, he departed the shop.

* * *

Though the form he held had ceased trembling, Hiei continued rubbing his mate's back possessively. Unsure of precisely what had happened, he had been told something involving Yusuke, before Kurama lapsed into shuddering violently, unable to speak further. It took Hiei a few minutes to piece together what the redhead was trying to communicate to him.

At some point during the visit, Yusuke had kissed Kurama.

Hostility toward the former spirit detective had been stirring within Hiei for a while. He'd disliked how Yusuke unloaded his heavy secret on Kurama. Needless to say, Kurama's own revelation during that incident, and Yusuke's reaction, was nothing short of amusing. They weren't in a committed relationship then, so Hiei let what happened then prompt the beginning of one and tried letting the exact events go. But since newer revelations the other brunette's behavior had grown steadily irritating. This kiss, and its apparent effect on his lover, enlivened his grudge to a new head.

Kurama was asleep now, though traces of his distress were still visible on his face. The Jaganshi settled him down and pulled the bedcovers over him. Giving him a look that contained its own distress, Hiei closed the bedroom door, and departed through the front.

Yusuke was responsible for this distress, and Hiei would hold him to it.

* * *

It was dusk when Kurama stirred, confused and alone in bed. He rubbed his eyes and focused his ears on the space around him. A phone's ringing—that was what had woken him. That aside, no sound of life inside the apartment. Where had Hiei gone?

Perhaps he was the one calling. "Hello?" Kurama murmured, once he reached the phone.

"Kurama…" Kuwabara spoke in a low, cautious voice. "I think I'm out of the loop. Did Urameshi do something?"

The inquiry was so broad, but Kurama assumed with a twist of his stomach that it had something to do with the aftermath of this afternoon's kiss. "How has Keiko reacted?"

In answer, a confused "I don't know about Keiko … it's _Hiei_."

He took a moment's absorption, before managing a "Pardo—?" before an explosive noise cut him off. As it faded he could hear Kuwabara, trying to counter the connection and background noise, yelling:

"We're at the temple. I don't know what the hell's going on, but it's like they're trying to kill each other."

Clenching his teeth, Kurama crisply thanked Kuwabara for the information, hung up, and then dialed the psychic's home phone number, hoping that Shizuru, and her recently acquired car, was home.

* * *

Having tried and failed to break up his friends' fight, Kuwabara had surrendered himself to the role of the bewildered and reluctant spectator, sitting on the porch and letting Yukina ice his now-bruised jaw. "They're crazy!" he decided. "There better not be any sort of region war coming out of this."

"They're _idiots_," Genkai said bluntly, watching two blurs disappear and reappear among the trees, occasionally shattering an unfortunate one into oblivion. "I'm going to make them replant every one that they destroy, assuming they don't off each other."

Frowning, the carrot-top said, "Kurama mentioned Keiko…" Both those names topped the list of what the audience could decipher from the shouts exchanged in the fight at hand. He considered this, and then pulled away from Yukina's ministrations, one eyebrow raised. "Is that a _car?_"

It was, and a minute or so later Kurama and Shizuru could be seen climbing the steps to the temple. The Fox barely gave the nearby fight a moment's observation before crying exasperatedly "What are they doing?!"

"That's what we've been wondering," Kuwabara replied. "Urameshi showed up, and then Hiei came out of nowhere and—Wait, what are you doing?!" Kurama was stalking toward the battleground. "Are you _nuts? No way! _Those two aren't right in the head right now, Kurama, you're going to get hurt!" The Fox paid him no mind, and he and Shizuru quickly went after him.

Kurama made no attempt to elude them. He stopped at the point where the trees grew thicker and scrutinized the action beyond through stern jade slits. When the Kuwabara siblings caught up to him he regarded them calmly, and returned to appraising the violent blurs among the trees. "Yusuke's reckless," he murmured with a sigh. "And Hiei's choleric."

"Do you know what they're fighting about?" Kuwabara asked. He edged closer to his friend, laid a hand on Kurama's shoulder.

The redhead let it rest. Suddenly weary-looking, he massaged his forehead, then combed frustrated fingers through his hair. "It's partially my own fault," was his lamented reply.

And then he surprised the siblings when he shot out an arm and opened his hand, casting something forward, and immediately after seizing hold of one arm of each Kuwabara, clinging to both tightly. They soon saw his reason why, as of course the things he had thrown were seeds, and now that they had landed were germinating. "You're insane!" Kuwabara scolded frantically; Kurama's posture had begun to bend and his grasp to slacken. The accused made no reply, nor did he cease his counter to his mate's and his friend's idiocy, until with one last hazy thought that when they had all awoken later the other two were _dead_, his vision grew black and his mind and body limp.

In turn Shizuru and Kuwabara supported their now unconscious friend and fed energy into him. "Damn it," the carrot-top growled. "Suddenly they're homicidal psychos; he's gone suicidal; everyone's trying to kill everyone!"

Shizuru looked in the direction that Kurama had thrown his seeds and raised an eyebrow. "That's not something you see everyday."

"Huh?" Kuwabara turned his head and saw what she referred to. His eyebrows shot up in awe. "Oh man, that's like the movie about the tornado. I didn't think that happened in real life."

"He probably made it happen," she replied, meaning Kurama.

Behind them someone coughed. "If you two are done gawking," Genkai said brusquely, "this idiot needs to be taken where he can rest."

Kuwabara nodded, and picked Kurama up delicately. "What about them?"

The older psychic snorted disdainfully. "He exhausted himself making that pretty little bed for those dumb-shits to sleep in. Don't move them."

Nobody argued, and while attention centered on Kurama's care, Yusuke and Hiei were left forgotten, passed out amidst the hundreds of bright red poppies the Kitsune had made bloom.

* * *

Afternoon passed into evening, and evening darkened into night. Kurama slept like the dead, though after examining him Genkai said he was overall unharmed and merely needed to recover the energy foolishly thrown out earlier.

Remember them at last, Kuwabara filled a bucket with water and trudged out to the new poppy patch, pulling his shirt up past his mouth and nose, just in case.

Cries of shock and indignation were his ungrateful reward as he doused his friends awake. "You guys are assholes, you know that?" he retorted hotly, ignoring their growls. "I try to stop you guys from killing each other and you _attack me_, and Kurama passed out tranquilizing you—What the hell?!" Both had sprung to their feet, Hiei posing his sword for attack and Yusuke his trigger finger. "What's gotten into you? Genkai was saying earlier how you both should be neutered and if she's serious I might not try to stop her!"

"Tell that crone that if she doesn't castrate _him_, _I _will!" Hiei snarled, glaring lethally at Yusuke. "It'll make it more difficult for that bastard to inflict his bicuriosities on Kurama."

"Uh … _What?_" Kuwabara managed, looking in confusion between the two.

"I didn't know you were with him then," Yusuke defended adamantly.

"That doesn't excuse you making him go to the hotel with you."

Yusuke's eyes slitted, his nostrils flared at this accusation. "I did not _make _him," he replied slowly, dangerously. "He consented."

"Like he consented to you putting your filthy mouth on his?!"

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Genkai bellowed, having come and heard enough. "Your absurd struggle for male domination already put Kurama in my care, and if either of you do anything to make him worse I'll blast you both."

Hiei narrowed his eyes, hating to be bossed, but nonetheless tried to calm himself. "Will he be all right?" he asked her, all the while giving Yusuke messages with his eyes conveying what he would do should the answer be negative.

"He'll survive," Genkai affirmed shortly. "He overexerted himself stopping you two. Don't insult him by starting up again."

The Jaganshi threw Yusuke a distasteful look, but stayed put. "May I see him?"

"Just don't disturb him," she replied, turning her back on them. Hiei cast a last poisonous eye on the taller brunette opposite, and then followed the old psychic.

Yusuke watched the demon leave, his own face set in a glare, and then noticed Kuwabara's current appearance. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh: I wasn't sure if the sleep thing was Kurama's work or if the poppies were still… Well, you haven't passed out again, so," Kuwabara pulled his shirt back down. Rubbing his jaw, he inquired, "Are you going to deck me again if I ask what the hell that was all about?"

His friend was staring down hard at the poppies and didn't answer right away. "Thanks to the midget psycho," he finally began, "I'm not sure if I can stay here."

"What do you mean?"

"I came up here to ask Grandma if I could hole up here for a little while. I … did something really stupid, and—Keiko threw me out."

Kuwabara frowned contemplatively. "Does it have anything to do with what Hiei was going on about?"

In the dark he saw the silhouette of Yusuke's head nod slowly. "I did something really, really stupid, Kuwabara."

* * *

Under his covers Kurama stirred, cracking his eyelids and discerning a familiar figure keeping watch over him. "You're awake already?" he murmured groggily, sitting up and rubbing his face.

"You're awake finally," Hiei replied. It was mid-morning. Kurama looked out a partially opened door and noted this, then regarded his mate coolly, asking, "Are you proud of yourself?"

"Keiko kicked the ass-hat out." Hiei paused while his mate's expression clouded. "Kuwabara took him in. It's more than he deserves."

"What you did yesterday was infantile and rash."

He brushed off the reprimand. "What he did was infantile and rash," he argued, "and selfish. You aren't a plaything that he can use on a whim."

Kurama's eyes narrowed. "Yusuke _kissed _me, Hiei. It was unwise, but you word it as though he did something much worse."

"Didn't he?" the other demon demanded almost viciously. "He pressured you into letting him between your legs, he was so stupid that he used a condom too small, he could have made you _sick_…" Toward the end of his attack his tone changed.

It didn't escape Kurama. "And?" he pressed, arching an eyebrow.

"I don't give a shit if he might have fertilized you," Hiei supplied dispassionately. "He doesn't deserve the title 'father.' It's everything else he's done—He _knows _we're together, and he kissed you anyhow. Perhaps you don't recall all of yesterday—"

"I recall you losing your mind."

"—But I do, and you broke down." He gave Kurama a look both haughty and outraged. "That was _his _blunder."

Though he hadn't been awake ten minutes, Kurama already felt weary. "Why am I exempt from this loath?"

Hiei's forehead creased in a pronounced frown. "I cannot be angry with you. You broke no promise or bind. You were much freer to do what you did than he was."

Sense of betrayal was justified, regardless of what Hiei said. "Just keep in consideration that Yusuke felt conflicted," the Fox appealed tiredly, cradling his head in one hand. "He probably still does. Please." Hiei didn't reply, but the change in his expression suggested that he was cooling down, at least a little. Letting his focus divert a little, something quickly commanded Kurama's attention. "I'm hungry, Hiei. I'm really hungry."

He'd been told that Kurama would probably spend the next day or so sleeping and eating to make up for yesterday's gardening activities. "Yukina said she had made you something earlier," he muttered, rising to go find the ice maiden.

Kurama watched lackadaisically while he left, and then lay back down, lips pursed sourly. If Hiei thought that filling the Fox's stomach would make up for yesterday's childish acts, he was grossly mistaken. A certain dose of negativity on his part was understandable, expected, but Kurama mourned the explosive acrimony now between his lover and Yusuke. Also, and he felt a little guilty for entertaining this thought so immediately, given both the kiss and the fight, not only would the tension have escalated, but must have spilled over and touched more than just the three or four of them.

* * *

**A/N: **I honestly have no idea, regarding the poppies, if too much time spent around a large number of them can have that effect or not. I've tried finding out but thus far research hasn't yielded much. The way that they were applied in the Oz scenario was probably a reference to opium, which comes from the poppy. (Notice that in these girls-lost-in-alternate-world stories there seems to be at least a moderate amount of drugs?) Opium is an opiate (see the cognates?), which is a drug family that mellows people out a _lot_. (Heroin is a synthetic derivative of opium, as is morphine.) So I figure that Kurama being the plant manipulator that he is could have thus manipulated the poppies into releasing the opium effects, whether it happens in reality or no.


	9. Chapter IX

**A/N: **So sorry about the delay in this update! As you'll note below, it's been done for a couple of weeks; I grew busy in finishing up my classes and then moving back here, and only just yesterday typed this up at last.

This chapter begins in the Human World and ends in the Demon World. We'll probably bounce back to Human World time to time just to keep up with Yusuke and everything going on there, but anything personally dealing with Hiei and Kurama will be in the Demon World and so it'll most likely be our central focus for a while.

* * *

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter IX  
May 9, 2008

Yusuke was staring either very blankly or very intently at the television screen when Kuwabara returned from the convenience store. "Hey." He dangled a bag of chips in front of the brunette. "Sour cream and onion?" His friend looked at the food despondently, then took it and the offered root beer. Kuwabara sat down and opened his own bag of barbecue and a bottle of Mountain Dew, and leafed through a few magazines he had picked up. Just as Yusuke had refocused on either the show or nothing, he casually added, "I was going to get you _Barazoku_(1), but they were out."

Promptly there was a thud as Yusuke chucked a couch cushion at the carrot-top. "I hope that went up your nose," he said darkly, while Kuwabara choked on his drink.

"Geez!" Kuwabara wiped soda and foam from his face. "I was trying to be supportive, Urameshi!"

"Save it," grumbled the former spirit detective. "I'm _not _gay."

The psychic snorted. "So Keiko _didn't _kick you out, and Hiei _didn't _kick your ass for doing Kurama?"

"He didn't kick my ass!" snarled Yusuke indignantly. "And that was mainly for kissing him."

"Right." Kuwabara's tone was sardonic. "But you're not gay." The glare intensified. "Well shit man, if you'd make it a little easier to understand—I mean, it's still sort of low to experiment the day before the wedding, but … Except you keep insisting that you're not into dudes and shit. Man, that nut-job Itsuki was less confusing than you are!"

"At least he could show some loyalty," Yusuke muttered.

"Dude: _you _cheated on Keiko with Kurama."

"I wasn't married yet!"

"You were _engaged _to her, douche bag!" Another thud; Yusuke's pillow this time. "You're _really _making this loyalty thing hard, you know that? It's like Shizuru on the rag—Do _not _throw that." The brunette had seized the remote. He let go, and took an angry swig of his drink. After a few moments had passed and nothing new was chucked at him, Kuwabara considered a beef stick, decided that given the subject of their conversation he would pass, and then asked: "So, if you're not gay, why Kurama? I know he's kind of delicate, but usually he doesn't look _that _girly."

"I guess the weight does kind of make him look more effeminate," murmured Yusuke in agreement.

Kuwabara gave him a funny look. "Since when do you use words like 'effeminate'?"

He groaned. "That's his influence again." Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. "I don't know why I like him, okay? I really don't. I even checked out some other guys" (Kuwabara choked, and this time soda did come out his nose) "just to see if maybe I really was gay or bi or whatever. None of them did anything for me. I think it's just Fox-boy. Maybe I've got a … like a brain fetish or something. He and Keiko are both pretty freakin' smart."

"Uh … yeah, maybe. Urameshi, those other guys you—never mind." Even if he had, Kuwabara didn't want to know. "Hey, um, something's been bothering me. You and Keiko were married a couple of months before we found out about Kurama's kid, and usually it takes at least six weeks for symptoms to show…"

Yusuke gave him a sober look.

He winced. "You're in deep shit, Urameshi."

* * *

Kurama's stomach flopped a little when Shizuru answered the door. Quickly he dropped his gaze to the stoop, too embarrassed to look her in the face. "Good afternoon. I was told Yusuke's staying with you?"

"Yeah, but he and Keiko are still married, so I don't think he can go out on dates just yet."

She was only kidding, but the Fox felt his cheeks grow hot. "Please don't joke about this."

"Sorry." The psychic shrugged. "Lighten up a little. Keiko's way more pissed with him than she is with you." His flush deepened. "He's in the den," she said, taking pity on him.

The brunette was playing Tetris when Kurama found him. "Shit!" he exclaimed; he'd lost.

"I thought you preferred the fighting games?" Kurama inquired.

At the sound of his voice Yusuke started, then turned. Looking him over, the seated man answered, "I do, but all the ones Kuwabara has I've already beaten him at. You, um…" He pulled up a cushion. "You wanna sit down? I'll help you up if you get stuck." This earned a bemused look from Kurama, which became a wince as he settled down. "Are you okay?"

Grimacing, the redhead nodded. "I'm just sore." Yusuke looked at him. "That's it," he said, not about to elaborate.

"You don't have to tell me," said his friend with a shrug. "Pregnant women get hemorrhoids, so why not—"

"That's not it!" he interrupted hastily, face burning. "I … Hiei…" His face still burnt, but better over this than Yusuke's misconception.

In contrast, the detective's face went white. "Oh…. Uh, he's not uh … too rough or—anything?"

Recently their lovemaking had been more aggressive, but not so much that it was hazardous to the Fox or the child. "Not really," he answered, before pulling a face as he caught scent of something vile. Before he could inquire he had already found the source: a lit cigarette, resting in a nearby ashtray.

Quickly Yusuke ground it out. "Sorry; I forgot about it." Kurama gave him a piteous look. Scratching his head uncomfortably, the brunette gave a half-hearted smile and said, "Kuwabara told me what you did to break up our fight. I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to be involved." This earned a skeptical look: Kurama was the _cause _of said fight. In response Yusuke shrugged. "Still, it hurt you. I'm sorry for that. And—I'm sorry about that kiss."

Emerald eyes contrasted strikingly with the burning flesh beneath them. "I'm … sorry that Keiko threw you out," the Kitsune stammered.

Another too casual shrug, a smile that he knew was forced. "Don't worry about me, Fox-boy. Just focus on yourself and the kid, okay?" He maintained his morose expression, and Yusuke's faux smile faded. "Have you had lunch yet?"

"You don't have to—"

"Fox-boy." Yusuke's voice sounded strained. "You're going to be gone soon, and who knows how long it'll be before I see you again? Let me take you out today."

It looked like his friend needed this far more than he did. "Where did you have in mind?"

"Uh…" Contemplating this, Yusuke finally shrugged on shoulder, and suggested, "Maybe we could look and see what catches our eye? It's been a while since I've gone anywhere beside…"

Kurama shut his eyes so that Yusuke might feel freer to give in a moment.

* * *

"How long do you plan to live with Kuwabara?" Kurama broached.

Yusuke tilted his face upwards slightly, pretending to be scouting for a place to eat. His friend had voiced a preference for something with onions and absolutely no fish whatsoever. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "Hopefully Keiko will let me talk to her soon—Hey." Kurama looked aggrieved. "Don't take it so hard. She will let me talk, eventually. I did get to explain some stuff before uh, leaving, but…" He shrugged. "I hurt her. So I might have to wait a while." The Fox didn't appear uplifted by his account. Well, he supposed that they weren't after all in the fuzziest scenario right now. Pausing, he regarded his friend carefully while he said, "Kuwabara and Shizuru know."

That was a given. "As do Genkai and Yukina," Kurama supplemented.

"I mean, they know that, maybe…"

"It's not a difficult matter to conclude, Yusuke."

"Okay, but I was wondering: Does your family…?"

Pausing his step, Kurama gave Yusuke a side-glance and nodded. Wanting them to know through himself rather than somehow else, he had told his parents the evening he was released from his recuperation at the temple. He recalled with embarrassment their shocked faces, hurriedly masked, and eyes that had shifted curiously toward Hiei, who maintained a neutral countenance. And then Shiori had hugged him almost painfully tightly, and Kazuya had placed a reassuring hand on his back, and nothing more had been said on it. Still, the Fox's anxiety remained.

Any lingering reservations toward Hiei must have dissipated entirely with his confession, he thought sardonically: The forgiving cuckold was a much more sympathetic portrait than the silent, severe-looking demon. Did they wonder if the former was responsible for the latter? Certainly he knew that wasn't the case, but there was no way for them—.

His ruminations were disturbed when Yusuke asked, "Are you all right?"

Kurama nodded, too vigorously. "Yes, I just…" Betraying a distressed look, he confided: "I'm not accustomed to standing out unflatteringly, Yusuke."

Scandal, however lavish the word sounded, wasn't something Yusuke was foreign to. Whereas in the Human World, Kurama had been the immaculate one. Suddenly what he had mentioned to Kuwabara before rejoined him; the pregnancy's changes had further androgynized their friend's looks. Plus the upcoming move to the Makai was, though the brunette disliked seeing his companion go, cutting it close—Kurama was maturing from "filling out" to "showing." To the point that, for all the talk he heard insisting otherwise, Yusuke thought it gave the affected demon a perfectly unassuming appearance. To the point that if Yusuke were inclined right now to reach out and hold the distressed Kitsune, no one would pay them much mind. They would appear as a typical, if perhaps overly publicly physical, couple, walking down the street.

Instead, he said with all sincerity, "I'm sorry."

Affectionate impulses had put them in enough trouble already.

* * *

Less than a week after this outing, Kurama left with Hiei for the Makai, from where he would not return until giving birth to the Alarician heir's heir. Their apartment, to which they would not return, had been emptied out; their thing either sent ahead or given over to safekeeping. Botan was introduced as the intermediary between the Hatanaka house and the centipede fortress. On the last day Kurama spent most of his time with his family, having already bid farewell to his friends.

Except for Keiko, whom he'd not seen since the kiss.

Now the Fox sat alone and regarded with no small amount of surprise the changes Hiei had made in concern to his comfort in their apartments.

It hadn't been sparse before, but minimalist. It wasn't overly decorous now, but cozy, with a feel not unlike that of a den. He hadn't recalled seeing as many—any, in fact—potted plants before, either.

Feeling drowsy, he eased back against the new couch cushions, a deep blue, plump and soft. A bit like himself, he thought; even the shirt of Kuwabara's that he was wearing was a similar color. He tried not to brood on this too much, and brought a heavy burgundy and gold blanket over himself. Very likely he'd deliver in the latter part of winter, and judging from the furnishings provided, Hiei had taken warmth into consideration.

A far cry from the hot weather that Kurama had first attributed to his feeling ill some months prior.

Succumbing to his drowsiness, the next thing he was aware of was a bemused-looking Hiei perching on the table in front of him. "Mm…?" he murmured, rubbing his eyes.

Hiei smirked. "Mukuro has a gift for you."

"Oh?" yawned the Fox, shifting, trying to wake up.

"Goat," he affirmed, placing a cup on the table. "She wants to be sure you receive proper nutrition. The milk can supplement the child's nourishment as well after it's born."

Heat rose in Kurama's cheeks at the mention of "milk." "… Thoughtful of her," he managed, reaching out for the cup.

The color in the redhead's face didn't escape Hiei. "You took your shots this morning, right?" Kurama nodded. He stared at the larger demon's chest, never mind that there wasn't any development that he had noticed yet. Leaning over, he reached forward; Kurama twisted, allowing his hand easier maneuvering. He bent his head down, began to kiss up under Kurama's shirt—and then paused.

Kurama noticed. "Is something the—?"

Never mind; he understood now: Hiei had felt the child's movements. Pulling away, the smaller demon looked thoughtfully at his middle, then at his face. "Have you felt it before?" He nodded. "Does it bother you at all?"

"Not really," he answered. "It hasn't begun to kick enthusiastically yet." Hiei murmured something probably not meant to be coherent. Suspicious, Kurama rejoined: "Does it bother _you _at all?" His mate bristled a little, an indignant, yet reluctant look on his face. "It's all right," he dismissed. If Hiei felt awkward continuing after feeling the child, he wouldn't push him. Despite his resolution, however, he was a little disappointed that the touching had stopped, but tried to suppress any indication thereof.

Certain things weren't easily willed off, though. Such as the faint but noticeable pink color that had found its way into Kurama's face and remained without his permission. Hiei saw it, and was unable to ignore it. The sight of that growing middle, and the thought it caused of the occupant inside, however, made him pause. Not responding to the Fox's waiver, he stepped around, behind the couch. Perhaps if he didn't look…

Without saying anything Hiei slid his hand down Kurama's shirt, prodding the redhead's chest, pinching a nipple. Kurama gasped involuntarily, the faint pink in his face rapidly growing bolder and warmer. Red eyes fixated themselves only on this, nothing below. The more intense they grew, it seemed, the more blazed over their green cohorts became, until the latter squeezed shut entirely, and when they opened again appeared lazy and unable to immediately focus.

Satisfied, the Jaganshi withdrew his hand, kissed a still panting mouth, and retreated to the bathroom. No way, he resolved, would he hold Kurama responsible for reciprocating until it was just between the two of them again.

* * *

(1) _Barazoku _("rose tribe") was the name of Japan's oldest gay magazine, which according to Wikipedia ran from 1971-2004 before publication ceased due to bankruptcy. Given the timeline of _Yu Yu Hakusho _it would have been in circulation, and since it was also the first Asian magazine aimed at gay men to be sold at mainstream locations I figure that Kuwabara wouldn't have to make any daring quests to the gay bookstore in his effort to "support" Yusuke.

Interestingly enough, _Barazoku_'s editor, Ito Bungaku, was not gay.


	10. Chapter X

**A/N: **Okay, so it has been a while with this story—sorry about that! I hope that this chapter will make up for the wait, because there's a lot packed into it: a spot of what's going on _here_, a lot of what's going on _there_, flashbacks, allusions, and crack. Yes, _crack_, putting it very simply. I hope with this chapter to have pushed a new boundary in crack-tastic-ness (and grammar), as well as the story's rating, which you might notice I've raised, due directly to this chapter's content. We get about half-way through this chapter, and you'll see what I mean.

Proceeding:

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter X  
June 19, 2009

Botan yawned. This was no mere yawn: it was a yawn that made her face stretch double its natural length, that made her body follow suit to its fullest capacity, prompting the sporadic _crack_s and _pop_s of various joints of various limbs. It was an astounding feat, that once completed, understandably left the performer dumped in a heap of limbs that were limp, and left in its wake a modest handful of spectators who, despite their small number, were no less dumbstruck by what they'd just witnessed.

Once his capacity for speech had returned, Kuwabara managed to make adequate commentary on the phenomenon with the remark, "I've only ever seen cats pull that off before."

"Whuh?" she half-yawned.

Seeing the Grim Reaper so exhausted was an oddity, but perhaps something about that sentiment was an oddity in itself. Nonetheless, it prompted the inquiry from Keiko, "Botan, are you feeling okay?"

"Huh?" Another yawn. "Yeah. I've just been in human form longer than usual today; I guess it's taken more out of me than I thought it would."

"Oh." For what might have been the first time in the shop's history, Keiko poured a cup of coffee for the ferry girl out of what she perceived as necessity.

"Kurama can't have _that _much work going back and forth, can he?" Kuwabara asked. He'd seen the folder Botan had with her, and it hadn't looked that big.

"_I'm _the one going back and forth," she said indignantly. "Which is harder than you'd think when you consider that Mukuro's fortress is known to _move_. And it's not just the work, you know. He certainly can't come back for visits, so it's up to me to keep his family caught up on what's happening to him and vice-versa. Which I guess technically _Hiei _could do, but I can see how he wouldn't want to leave Kurama alone."

_BAM!_

Ferry girl and psychic jumped as one of the drawers in the kitchen slammed, hard. Keiko appeared in the open doorway, paused when she caught them staring, and said, "What? I was jammed."

"Uh—Keiko, do you need any help at all?" Kuwabara asked.

"No," she said, disappearing from view again.

_How is she? _Botan mouthed. Kuwabara shrugged. When Yusuke stayed with him and Shizuru, which he wasn't this weekend, he'd taken to being gone all day, usually in the shop with Keiko, and not coming back until later in the evening, usually having already eaten dinner. Kuwabara knew the two had been talking, and obviously getting on well enough that the police hadn't had to come to the shop to break up any heated arguments. "Maybe she's mad Urameshi's gone this weekend," he murmured. Not that Yusuke didn't go make an appearance for the monks every few weekends anyhow, but this particular weekend he and his bald entourage were headed to Alaric. Something to do with a border town, Kuwabara thought. He was bound to run into Hiei there, and maybe—"How's Kurama doing?"

"I think he gets lonely still," Botan answered, "but not as much as when he first got there."

She'd made that observation before, on the loneliness. Kuwabara guessed that it might have been different if the child was born in Gandhara, where Kurama at least had a sort of leg-up: he was only acquaintances with most of the demon officials in Alaric; most of his friends and family were _here_. On top of that Botan had told him before that Kurama's physician was a demon that tried to _kill _him during Yusuke's Tournament—_that _didn't sound stressful, _no_, not at all. "Least he's got you and Hiei," he said, shrugging.

Yes: Botan was Kurama's link to home; he was always happy to see her, to listen closely while she recounted news to him, to sit closely beside her, practically _on _her.

And when it came to that, he would swiftly apologize, explaining in an embarrassed tone that the pregnancy was making him touchier than usual, and would reseat himself at a more conventional distance. Sometimes Botan wondered how the redhead was when it was just him and Hiei, but had enough self-preservation not to bring it up to either of them.

"_Urrgghh!!_"

Ferry-girl and psychic jumped, again. This time Keiko lurched out of the kitchen, exasperation plain on her face. Fixing a half-wild eye on Kuwabara, she sighed, and said, "Kuwabara, would you like some money to work this weekend?"

"Uh … Sure, Keiko," he replied, sharing a look with Botan before getting up to follow his temporary boss into the kitchen.

* * *

The matter at hand was that of the city of Kiwa, which had originally been a village on the border of Mukuro's territory, but had since expanded, and a small but nonetheless notable fraction of which now spilled over into Tourin. The issue was taxation, and several methods had been put into experiment before that of splitting the city along that border, and each fraction being taxed by whomever according to the territory on which that fraction rested, became the most likely to put into permanent execution. The present meeting between the Land of Alaric and the Lord of Tourin, and their appointees, was primarily over officiating everything. The matter at hand was actually quite simple, or should have been—.

"How can we be sure that, once having official possession of the minority fraction of Kiwa, Tourin won't try to accumulate more?"

Except that in attendance was a member of the Alarician cabinet that had entered the meeting in a choleric humor, and seemed determined to blur the distinction between Tourin and its leader, and substitute the personal for the political.

Sometimes, as now, Mukuro briefly wondered if an assassin might be had that could take care of her sometimes, as now, brash Second, but only sometimes. Besides, precedent elsewhere indicated that it wouldn't work out. "It would be a breach in contract, and leave Tourin open for a declaration of war to be made against it. Urameshi, I'm correct in assuming that those running Tourin would not be so stupid as to make such a move, aren't I?"

"Right," Yusuke said, ignoring the ugly look Hiei wore looking at him. "Even if I were that stupid, I don't think that Hokushin would let me pull it off."

"Were that he could sound the voice of reason elsewhere in your life," Hiei muttered in a low voice. Low for ominous effect, not low volume; he fully intended to be heard, and judging from the look on Yusuke's face, had succeeded.

He was heard elsewhere, too. "A break," Mukuro said, as a declaration, not a suggestion. "Lunch. When we reconvene, we'll finish this matter." She stayed while the other demons left the conference. So did Hiei.

So did Yusuke. "So that we're clear," he said to Hiei, "you think that I'm trying to work Kiwa into my land harem or something? Because that doesn't really make any sense."

"Please disregard anything that comes out of my Second's mouth," Mukuro said, "that would strike the general audience as incoherent, or plain stupid. Just as I will disregard them myself, as I'm sure it's a harmless if obnoxious byproduct of his anxiety over his mate."

To Hiei's infuriation, Yusuke had the gall to look concerned, and ask, "Is Kurama okay?"

Inflaming said infuriation, Mukuro answered, "His condition is not dangerous. The child had taken to the demonic climate with a passion, and has perhaps overwhelmed its mother by its enthusiasm, but only a little. Kurama is fine, if somewhat prone to hysteria time to time."

Yusuke's eyes widened while Hiei's narrowed. Mukuro had no _fucking _right to share that information, even if it was with the knowledge that Yusuke probably wouldn't fully understand what she meant.

And then Yusuke ventured what Hiei thought should be fatally too far, and asked, "Well, can I say Hi?"

_**NO! **_Hiei wanted to snap, but Kurama would probably like the visit. "Follow me," he said, grudgingly, as though it was a poison he was being forced to take.

He fixed a most potent death glare on Mukuro on his way out. She countered it with a vivid, livid blue eye along her steely bionic one.

Meanwhile, Yusuke wondered if such a tense environment was all that healthy for Kurama, and couldn't blame him if he got hysterical.

But Kurama looked fine when Yusuke saw him sitting on the couch in Hiei's suite. He was bent over some papers on the coffee table, and after he offered a surprised Hello and Yusuke returned it, the brunette asked, "Are you working?"

"Trying to," Kurama answered. It appeared that he'd had to discard most of the clothing borrowed from Kuwabara, having grown too large, though Yusuke recognized the sweatpants he was wearing. "I'm afraid that I passed an overall restless night; I've been trying not to all asleep. As it was, Hiei gave up and moved to the couch last night."

From the kitchen area, Hiei grunted. The child kept Kurama up a lot, and when he did sleep, it was as though he were fighting with the child to do so. Except that Hiei was the one who got prodded, or shoved, or hit. Absently the Jaganshi rubbed last night's victim, his shoulder, and set to making more coffee for himself while Kurama and Yusuke talked.

"Hey—I brought something for you," Yusuke said, gesturing to a small bag he had slung over one shoulder, "in case I did get to see you. I don't know how you pass the time here when you're by yourself and not working, so…" He pulled out and set on the table before Kurama a small stack of books. "I don't know if you have any of these, but there's a few you might be able to read to the kid when it's born, too."

Kurama looked the offering over. Work varied from Yukio Mishima's _Confessions of a Mask _to that of Lewis Carroll. "Nihilism and absurdism," he murmured in amusement. "Is there something you're trying to tell me, Yusuke?" Yusuke replied with a weak smirk, perhaps not seeing the same humor that Kurama did.

"How are things at home?" the Fox asked him.

"Uh…" He shrugged. "Not bad. I've been couch-surfing a few different places, but mostly I've been at Kuwabara's because Grandma keeps trying to make me plant trees even though the ground's kind of freezing this time of year; and at my mom's … well, it's just kind of weird. Weirder than Kuwabara trying to buy me gay magazines"—Kurama widened his eyes, while in the kitchen Hiei smirked—"because he things _that's _being supportive even though I'm _not _gay."

Mildly Kurama inquired what Hiei snarled mentally: "What are you, then?"

Thinking a moment, Yusuke replied, "I can't know for sure. I've … I've thought about that a lot, as you know." He coughed, then continued: "I'm not into guys. In general, I mean—_you're _a guy." He tried as best he could without being obvious not to look at his _male _friend's middle, as one of his first thoughts entering the suite had been, _Nice shape_. "I think, _maybe_ I'm a One—no, make that a _Point Five_." The numbers were lost on Hiei, but Kurama understood, and was vaguely impressed that Yusuke knew that Kinsey scale(1).

Here Yusuke's voice grew morose. "But I fucked a lot of shit up figuring out I'm _maybe _something. Not just my shit, it'd be one thing if it was just my shit." His features pinched into something guilty. "One of the reasons things got so weird staying at my mom's is she obviously wanted to know why I was there with her and not home with Keiko, and I maybe … gave her more of a reason than I needed to." He grimaced. "Another reason I couldn't stay with her, I was too irresponsible with all the booze."

Kurama had noticed that Yusuke looked thinner than usual. Shizuru and Kuwabara wouldn't let him flush out his health entirely with alcohol, but Kurama couldn't help but wonder what all Yusuke was eating, how much he was smoking. "I'm glad you recognized that, Yusuke."

"… I think I might have been … too irresponsible, when I was telling my mom why I was there anyhow. You know what she said? She said I really fucked up because the plus-side of knocking with a guy was that he wasn't supposed to get knocked _up_."

In Kurama's posture, a subtle stiffness made its presence known. In the kitchen, Hiei contemplated how he might throw his cup at Yusuke without its contents scalding Kurama too.

"Atsuko knows now?" the Fox managed, hurt in his tone.

"That there's a guy involved in the thing between me and Keiko, and the guy's a demon. I remembered to shut up after that much slipped out." Kurama remained reserved. He knew that Atsuko could tell that he was … not human, at least; but then the two of them crossed paths seldom. "I told her that it didn't matter," Yusuke assured him. "I told her that the guy was in the Makai anyway, and the kid already had a father aside from the one carrying it. She was worried about that, that I'd be such a douche bag to just shoot some seed and forget about it." Kurama was quiet. "But you seem to be doing good," Yusuke said, sounding like he wanted to move talk along. "You've got your family waiting on you, and Hiei here, so … I told her not to worry about it. I'm trying to fix everything else now."

"Botan told me you're working with Keiko again."

He nodded. "Yeah. We've been talking some stuff out, and…" He let it trail off, and shrugged. "But I fucked a lot of stuff up. I didn't know about you and Hiei before, but I did when I pulled the … the really loud fuck up. I fucked you and him over big time—and I fucked over Keiko. I hurt her real bad, I know that, so I know that it could still be a while before … if…." He blinked once, twice—then focused on Kurama and gave him a shaky smile. "I'm sorry, Kurama. But how're you? I mean, you've got to be having a hell of a time, your body doing everything it is to you and all."

Remorse on his face. Kurama could not help but pity him. "I'm fine, Yusuke," he assured the shiny-eyed brunette. "I'm almost done. In a couple of months, I'll be able to go home." Wherever their new home would be. "I hope that soon enough, you'll be able to go home as well."

Hiei cleared his throat. "Mukuro will want us back soon," he said, tossing Yusuke an apple. To Kurama he handed a glass of milk. "Yomi got loose, so we're out of milk until she's caught."

"Huh?" Yusuke caught the conflict in pronoun.

Kurama smiled, and explained. "Mukuro made a gift of a dairy goat to me." A Nubian nanny, imported from the Human World. Mukuro had worried that a complete transition in diet might overwhelm him. Kurama hadn't wanted to appear by pointing out that he didn't normally drink goat's milk; he adjusted easily enough. "Hiei thought to flatter our other lordly friend by making him a namesake."

The present "lordly friend" laughed. "Yeah, how'd the old Goat take the nanny?"

"All in good sport," Kurama replied. In elaboration: Yomi the First's face had contorted briefly in mild consternation when informed of the second, domestic, animal carrier of his name; and immediately after, in amusement. Personally speaking, Yomi the demon had said, he knew nothing of the function of lactation—but, he added in a jesting tone, Kurama would certainly enlighten him once able, wouldn't he?

"I think that Mukuro will want to see me later," Hiei told the Fox. "Us, if you want."

The humorous expression became one that seemed familiar to Yusuke, but even now he was seldom able to decipher. "I think so," Kurama replied, though he didn't sound certain.

He never sounded certain, but in this case, Hiei knew, "I think so" carried an affirmative connotation. "See you," he said, leading Yusuke to the door.

Whatever the ambiguous expression, Kurama hadn't seemed to suddenly plummet into low spirits. "Bye, Fox-boy."

The smile returned. "Good luck, Yusuke," he told the taller, departing brunette.

Perhaps Yusuke's visit ended on a good omen: Hiei was considerably more civil during the tail-end of the meeting.

* * *

True to his resolution, Hiei hadn't mixed anything of his with Kurama, and with the child de facto, since the day he'd first felt the contents of his mate's belly kick. This alleviated one sense of disturbance within his person, but in its place another was instated, as his regard on the matter seemed to be in the minority. While the demonic atmosphere invigorated Kurama's physiology, it did not satiate other needs that may or may not have been less basic, but were no less demanding. Consequently, Hiei's revulsion—which, he had to repeatedly insist, was due not to Kurama's change in shape, but to the sentient presence in the changed shape—was a source of frustration to Kurama.

Shortly after fixing his resolution, Hiei's boss took an interest in his snubbed mate.

"Hiei, do you know the meaning of the term 'hysteria'?" Mukuro asked him one day, when he'd fled his quarters to escape a spontaneous and violent eruption of emotion fro the Fox currently left alone in said quarters.

"I believe I just saw a vivid example in my bedroom," he replied wearily.

Mukuro looked like someone who'd just had some great theory confirmed. "I don't mean that definition," she told him. "Try to imagine the pressure he's under right now, if you can. Your phobia took away the outlet that his current condition had made choice for dealing with that pressure, made by this same condition."

Hiei was beginning to regret having let slip that he was withholding sex. "A phobia's an unjust fear," he argued. "And what about your fear is just?" Mukuro inquired.

"Plenty!" he snapped.

"Such as?"

His eyes narrowed, in contempt as well as in thought. "He's gotten big, because it's gotten big—and vigorous—and what if I … jostled him, and—and scrambled it?"

"_Scrambled?_" she repeated.

"Yes!" affirmed Hiei hotly. "Like eggs!" He paused, long enough to take several deep breaths. "I don't want to do anything that could hurt it, or him. I'm—cautious."

"I think he'd sooner say neglectful."

"Yeah?" Hiei bristled. "And you have a better idea?"

Mukuro raised an eyebrow, thoughtfully—as did Hiei, curiously.

* * *

Hiei hadn't realized how precious Kurama's "outlet" was until an incident occurred with Shigure that he heard second hand. The physician's prodding had _stirred _Kurama, who in embarrassment cut the session short, and burst into outraged tears once behind the suite's doors.

Of course Hiei had witnessed the aftermath, but hadn't heard the cause until Kurama related it, in front of him—to Mukuro.

"… Why didn't you tell me?" he tried. He was seated in the chair opposite the couch on which the two redheads sat, in his boss's living room.

"You're no help!" Kurama snapped at him, and then grumbled something Hiei thought sounded like "scrambled eggs." He kept rubbing agitated circles on his stomach.

Mukuro gestured for quiet, and leaned forward, eyes fixed on the Fox. This incident had occurred while she was in the bath, and she wore only a robe. "I don't know you as well as I know Hiei," she told him, "or Hiei knows you. But I know your kind's nature, and I know that returning to your native world has stirred that nature's more primal aspects."

He stopped rubbing circles; she reached forward and stroked the knuckles of one of his hands. "And I know that your current state"—Mukuro's hand left his, and splayed over his belly—"makes you all the more susceptible."

Kurama felt the occupant inside stir against the touch. Blood rushed to the surface of his face. What a day this was playing out to be.

Something changed in Mukuro's face. "Did Shigure do this…?" she murmured.

He inhaled, filling his body with air, making the hand upon it, not his hand, rise up, even as this same hand, not his hand, moved up…

From his position as spectator, Hiei widened his eyes.

"Oh!" But Kurama's face was hot. He sank his teeth deep into his lip, suppressing a whimper as the Lord of Alaric fondled his nipples through his shirt, and through his shirt his nipples perked in response, pointing outward, closer to those probing fingers, enabling those probing fingers, that stroked and held between thumb and forefinger first one and then the other, that first one and then the other _twisted_—"Oh!"

Mukruo ceased tormenting Kurama through his shirt; he moaned, in foreboding or in pleasure, Hiei knew not, while she undid and slid away his tunic, slid his tunic down, down to his waist, where she found the hem of his undershirt and pulled up, up over his head; and down to his waist, swaddled in his rolled-down tunic and swollen with child, he was naked. he was naked, and his nipples stuck out, bright pink and painfully stiff, with nothing to shield them now when Mukuro resumed experimenting.

When Mukuro resumed experimenting, lowering her head as she did.

Green (and red) eyes shot wide open. Pressing, caressing his nipple, that was warmth, that was wetness, that was _tongue_.

There was a swell between his legs.

Lightly Mukuro ground her teeth on the painfully perked nub, and then moved to the other, which she had kept ready with her hand.

Meanwhile, Hiei watched. The display made for a potent result overall, and yet the only clear reaction it managed to wrench from Hiei was the vaguely stupefied thought, _What the hell?_

Kurama's body was glowing under a film of sweat, and his eyes wore a similar, dreamy film over their lenses. Said eyes and Hiei's caught each other, locked into each other, held for one, two, three moments…

And then Mukuro's lips, which had begun directing kisses southward, reached the bunch of fabric, pushed it down, and hit a certain spot; and the latter pair of eyes widened while the former pair squeezed shut and their owner let out a long, loud moan.

When the eyes opened again, they focused again on Hiei, who thought again, _What the hell?_, and moved forward, toward the couch. Kurama raised one glistening arm, and delicately a finger traced first one of Hiei's clavicles, and then the other, and made a feathery trail up Hiei's throat. It reached his lower lip, hooked over his lower lip, and tugged gently. Hiei, not knowing what to do, went with it, bending forward, bracing his hands on the arm and the edge of the couch, adjusting one when his wrist brushed the side of Kurama's swell. It hadn't been a long time since he'd kissed Kurama, he'd kissed him _last night_; maybe, he just hadn't done so very … _elaborately_, lately…

Which was apparently what Kurama had been craving—he seized both hands round the back of Hiei's head and pulled so hard that the Jaganshi lost his footing and had to grip the couch arm harder to keep from falling forward face-first. Awkwardly he held himself, his head hovering over Kurama's, his tongue moving in reaction to Kurama's.

However, when Kurama turned toward him, tried to pull him closer to he'd be on the couch too, he resisted, and pulled back. He didn't want to feel the swell of Kurama's stomach, and he certainly didn't want Kurama to feel the swell between his legs.

He broke free, tugging his shirt back in place, pulling it down over his pants, futilely—his shirt was too short to cover his crotch. Kurama stared at him blankly, and he returned the stare just as blankly, shaking his head in a mechanical fashion.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mukuro sitting on the end of the couch, watching him. For the first time it bothered him that she was a woman: while her face was flushed, intensifying the blue of her natural eye, he couldn't tell how aroused she was from just looking between her legs, which were closed and crossed and mostly covered anyway. Her intensified blue eye and its bionic counterpart continued gazing at him, and he found himself tilting his face so that his two red eyes made direct contact with hers.

He shook his head. "No," he told her, told Kurama, told no one in particular. He backed away from the couch, shook his head more vigorously. "No."

Nothing. No order, or lecture, or taunt. Instead, Mukruo turned her attention away from him, onto Kurama. For the Fox's part, his gaze lingered on Hiei, eyes shining still, though Hiei wasn't sure what the film was made from anymore.

Hiei was almost relieved when Mukuro crawled up and tilted the redhead's face her way and kissed him, rubbing his nipples while she did, rubbing her crotch up against his knee while she did. Hiei watched Kurama close his eyes and curl his toes, edging his knee against her and rocking his hips while she rocked hers. She stopped teasing his nipples; her own breasts hung down and rested against his chest, and their pert tips brushed against his. The two continued moving in their strange position, and for a moment Hiei thought, but would never tell Kurama out of respect for the Kitsune's current sensitivity on the matter, of two women together.

He closed his eyes and heard his mate and his boss both announce their peaks with a series of low-high-low, rich-sounding moans, which made him visualize syrup. He bit his lip to prevent any sort of sympathetic utterance, and it was all he could do to keep from coming in his pants.

* * *

Of course, Mukuro wasn't looking to start anything with Kurama the way Yusuke might have. After a session or two similar to the first, Hiei's jealousies overcame his reluctance, and would no longer permit him to act as mere spectator while his boss worked his mate.

No, not "worked." Kurama had accused him before, when he'd asked only a little sardonically, how it was with Mukuro, of being _intimate _with him in much the same manner as whoever procured his milk for him was with the damn goat while they "worked" it. Hiei's explanations had never been well-received by the Fox, who whenever Hiei did explain would in turn accuse: clinical, disinterested, passionless, repulsed.

And so he bit his tongue, and took the bait his boss threw at. Going from her example, Hiei tried overcoming his inhibitions and sought out alternative methods of helping Kurama. If Mukuro could do it without putting anything of hers inside the Fox, mingling it with the child, then so could he.

Which brought them to the point they were at now: Mukuro, the spectator, watching and sometimes instructing Hiei, the lover. Hiei, the lover, presently drawing out a rich, syrupy moan from Kurama, using a dildo that Mukuro has assured him was completely new and completely sterile. Plastic, too—easily cleaned.

"A-_AH!_" Kurama cried, arching his back. Hiei edged backward, avoiding the rising belly, but at the same time squeezing, kissing his mate's hand.

"Not too hard," Mukuro told Hiei. It wasn't entirely his doing; Kurama kept rocking his hips in a manner that slid up on the dildo. Slowly the Jaganshi slid it out, set it aside on the sheets. "Sh," he said, replying to Kurama's sighs, while trying to soothe himself. Not time yet.

Mukuro leaned over, pushed aside damp red hair and kissed a glistening temple. Kurama heaved another sight, brushed his hand against hers.

And then the Fox eased up, and reached out toward Hiei, reaching toward the exposed swell between his naked legs.

"_H-Huuh_," he gasped, leaning into Kurama's touch. He spread his legs wider, allowing Kurama more access to the sac hanging between them, squeezed his eyes shut when Kurama took advantage.

He arched forward into Kurama's arms, recoiling only a little when his flat stomach met Kurama's rounded belly. Behind him he felt Mukuro rubbing his shoulders, hands moving slowly, deeply.

"_No_," he half-groaned, half-growled when he felt Kurama's hair brush his chest, trailing downward. He didn't want Kurama ingesting anything of his right now, though the Fox frequently tried.

The head ceased its descent. As soon as its pace stopped, Kurama's hand increased that of its task, invigorated by each moan that escaped Hiei's lips.

He yelled, threw his body forward and clung to Kurama's while he came. A pair of hands kneading between his shoulders complemented the sensation between his legs.

Once he was finished, he was content to lie close by, tickling Kurama's hand with the touch of his own, while Mukuro moved in, laid Kurama out, and helped the Fox reach satiation.

* * *

Later, when the third party had left them, Hiei positioned himself behind Kurama, wrapped his arms around Kurama, and let his energy flow. Due to the natural energy found in the Makai atmosphere, the Fox didn't need donors like he had in the Human World, but it was a pleasant experience nonetheless. His energy was the one thing that he didn't mind putting in Kurama.

A stomach growled. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

Kurama made a murmur of affirmation. "Perhaps we could have _scrambled eggs_," the redhead said dryly.

Even though they'd found a way to work around it, Hiei still caught skepticism over being squeamish toward a fetus. "Yeah," he replied just as dryly. "With onions and hot sauce and toast and—"

His mate wriggled away from him. "Put up or shut up," Kurama told him.

Smirking, Hiei rolled out of bed and went into the kitchen, reaching the fridge past the pitcher of fresh milk (Yomi the goat had been captured that evening) for the basket of eggs.

* * *

The shop had been closed for an hour, and Keiko was paying Kuwabara for his help over the weekend when a knock was heard on the front door. There on the other side stood Yusuke, looking slightly jaundiced in the wash of the yellow street lights.

"Looks like Hiei didn't kill you, Urameshi," Kuwabara remarked once Keiko had unlocked the door and let Yusuke in.

"Oh hah, hah," Yusuke retorted, though his heart wasn't in it—he was _tired._ "He looked like he wanted to for a while, but he mellowed out a bit toward the end of the meeting. How'd everything hold up here?"

"Fantastic," the carrot-top said proudly. "Keiko says that I'm more organized than you are, that I complain less, and that the back door doesn't smell as noxious when _I'm _working and _you're _not back there smoking it up."

"Well congratulations, Kuwabara, and may I say that I'm thrilled in my part helping you realize your ultimate goal of _fry cook_."

Keiko rolled her eyes as both _boys _made several faux advances at each other, then settled on glaring from their spots across the room from each other. "Did everything go well?" she asked Yusuke.

"Yeah. Well, Hiei tried being a douche bag during the meeting, but again, he mellowed out for the end of it. Which is good, because he was starting to piss Mukuro off."

"… Did you see Kurama at all?"

He nodded, slowly. "Yeah, for a little bit. He's _big_. Oh, and," he looked at Kuwabara, "I hope it won't break your heart if you don't get your old gym sweats back." Back to Keiko, "I talked to him for a little bit, gave him some books since I don't know how he spends the days over there. He asked about you."

"He did?"

"Yeah. I said you were doing okay… though I guess I kind of left you high and dry this weekend if you had to resort of _Kuwabara_,"—who flipped him off—"so sorry about that."

"It's fine." Keiko looked him over. "You look very tired."

Yusuke shrugged it off. "I'll be going to bed soon anyway. Kuwabara, you ready to go back to your place?"

"Wait," Keiko told him. He gave her a curious look while she disappeared into the kitchen.

A moment later she reappeared, carrying a Styrofoam container. "We already ate," she said, gesturing to Kuwabara and herself, "but I doubt you've had any dinner if you just got back…"

He took the container without even looking at what was in it, he was so hungry. "Thanks," he told her. "I'll … see you in the morning." He gave her a smile, and waved, before following Kuwabara out the door.

At first she said nothing, then called after him, "Get some sleep, Yusuke," before the door shut.

* * *

**A/N: **Yukio Mishima was a Japanese author back around the 1950s. He committed suicide after a failed coup d'état on the post-WWII Japanese government. The book, _Confessions of a Mask_, follows a man who struggles with homosexual attractions (Mishima himself was also gay). When I read it I found it sort of reminiscent of _Catcher in the Rye_—as in, to me, What the hell was the point? So here I'm going to call it nihilistic, which put in the simplest of layman's terms means something like, No point—There is nothing at the end, so there is no point trying to do anything. Absurdism, on the other hand, says something like, Maybe there's nothing at the end, but there may be something fulfilling in the endeavor nonetheless.

Though the term "hysteria" nowadays refers to when someone's severely overwhelmed, originally it referred to a female condition (its root means "uterus") back in the quaint Victorian days of old, that today we look back at and recognize as female sexual tension. Before it was no longer considered a medical condition, a common treatment involved the application of a _vibrating _instrument to the vulva, which calmed the patient down, and said instrument (that's right, _vibrators_) were frequently advertised alongside other medical devices in commonplace magazines.

1. Kinsey scale – named for Alfred Kinsey. Measures human sexuality on a scale of 0-6, with 0 being exclusively heterosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual.

As always, commentary is most welcome. This has been über-nerd!


	11. Chapter XI

**A/N: **I _almost _neglected this story for an entire year, but I polished off this chapter in an annual-enough fashion. And really, "neglected" is not the best choice of word, because I have been working on what has become the eleventh chapter of this story as posted here rather solidly for at least the past three months. School and work and some personal sundries have been trying to kick my ass and I've been trying to kick back harder in retaliation—and winning, for the most part. But I have been writing, and I do hope to see that my penname crops up in the "Latest" section more often as proof.

But let's not ruin the moment: you, the readers, got an update, so let's get to it!

What's Yours is Mine  
Chapter XI  
16 June 2010

Hiei squirmed in his seat, twisted his torso round, arched his back, all the while wearing an expression of annoyed discomfort on his face.

"Sleep on the couch if he kicks you," Mukuro finally said.

Curtly: "I do," he replied, unwinding himself as he finally felt, heard the sought-after _crack_. "He's irateabout it. He kicks me out." Literally and figuratively. "Or he drags me back in. He can't decide if his scent alone on the bedding will calm him, or if mine there too will be a comfort, or a distraction. Evidently my scent changes while I'm asleep just enough that it will alter the effect. I think the hormones and foreign energies have finally wormed through his brain."

Mukuro smirked. "It's the real parasite, not the imagined ones."

"I'll tell him you said that," Hiei threatened. The Kurama that had taken up bedroom feng shui with a vengeance, however, was not the same Kurama that had himself referred to the "parasite" as an "illness"; or that was how Hiei felt.

"I helped him with the blood between his legs."

Lips pursed. Mukuro, as a woman, had superseded Hiei in practical assistance to Kurama of late. In a way, she had become a replacement Shiori in the Makai.

He shuddered—Not _quite _a replacement Shiori.

"Go to bed if you're tired," Mukuro told him.

"I can't go back to bed," he countered. "He's trying to work. I can't go back to _my _quarters." He stressed his ownership, since it'd taken on the nature of a sick joke. He no longer recognized the rooms that had been his in the space they occupied.

His boss shrugged. "I didn't say _your _bed. Take over Urameshi's quarters; he's probably at _your _quarters right now, visiting _your _mate."

"_Thank you _for your rationalization," Hiei growled, gripping his elbows either way his arms crossed. He'd shed the drive to throttle Yusuke; but neither did he have the drive to seek out his company, or even tolerate it in high doses, especially around Kurama.

Still: "I'm taking a nap," he announced, boots thudding as he sprung up off the chair. If Yusuke wanted to haunt his bedroom—as he'd told Kurama to not get out of bed—then Hiei would repay the favor.

Actually, Hiei bumped into Yusuke, the one en route to the other's quarters and vice versa.

"_Ow_." Yusuke stepped back and rubbed his shoulder, face twisted. "Your head okay?" he asked Hiei.

Rubbing the spot of flesh above the black V his eyebrows had joined into, Hiei grumbled, "Watch where you're going."

"_You _knocked into—!"

"Don't trip and fall on my mate!" Hiei spat, in no mood for retorts from anyone else.

The odd prohibition made Yusuke pause. "Huh—Why would I trip? Over what?"

"Kurama's … redecorated." Hiei rubbed his face out of tiredness. "Because of the child."

"Like a nursery."

_Hardly_, in the sense that Yusuke meant the word; though who was Hiei to identify vulpine child-rearing tactics—or any other, for that matter? "No. Like an instinctual thing. Just don't upset him, physically or otherwise. He's been under enough stress." And taking it out on him, consciously or no.

Yusuke stared at him. Hiei stared back, then waved him on. "Go see Kurama. He wanted you to be here."

"…Kay," Yusuke said, the stare turning into a weird look before he looked away from Hiei entirely and went on his way. The notion of fatherhood was creeping up on Hiei, he figured; _that _must be why he was acting so weird. Neither of them liked having to wait around for shit to happen.

Kurama just had to pop—then Hiei would be back to standard surly.

The door to Hiei's and Kurama's quarters opened before Yusuke banged on it. Much of Alaric, Yusuke had long-ago surmised, was an odd integration of rustic and high-tech, and he figured some hidden camera or mic or spring or whatever prompted the early, anonymous greeting.

Or, he amended upon stepping inside, it could have something to do with the "redecorating" that Hiei had spoken of. The first thing Yusuke saw when he entered the chamber of Alaric's Second, all but officially ceded to the consort of the Second, was _green_: potted plants along the walls and vines climbing them to the ceiling, across the ceiling, across the floor, over the furniture…

The greenery spoke to him: "Hello, Yusuke."

He jumped, despite knowing the voice. "Where are you?" he called. Kurama's greeting was muffled, either by distance or vegetation. Under his foot a vine engorged and then contracted; he jumped again, then as it continued to pulsate, he followed it down the hall into the bedroom.

On the bed lounged the very pregnant consort of the Second of Alaric; a blue-haired envoyof the Spirit World perched nearby at the bed's foot. between them lay several stacks of papers in a spilling out of folders, and Kurama's belly pressed into the bedcovers as he leaned over, reading some of them. He stopped, though, and eased back as Yusuke neared, and smiled at his new visitor.

Yusuke's face, meanwhile, twisted itself in a skeptical fashion. "Should you be doing that, Fox-boy?"

"Why not?" Kurama replied, bemused. "It's no strain."

"Uh-huh, and what about the _Jumanji _décor? That wasn't here last time I was."

"It's fairly new," the Fox conceded.

"How new?" Yusuke pressed.

Kurama's lips twisted in a sheepish smile. "A week."

"_Dammit_, Kurama!" Yusuke gave him an exasperated grimace. "And how much strain went into that?"

Pleasantly Kurama replied, "It's rudeto ask how much a person spent on their furnishings."

"I wasn't asking for a lesson in manners."

"Oh lay off," Botan scolded. "The energy in those plants is mostly recycled anyway."

"_Recycled?_" Yusuke repeated, looking to Kurama for explanation.

"I don't need all of the energy everyone shares with me," the redhead told him. "I've deposited the run-off into these plants. Technically it's my energy, but the more powerful demons of Alaric, as well as a few from Gandhara and Tourin, fed my current furnishings."

"Uh-huh…" Yusuke widened his eyes a little as beside him the wall writhed. "All that energy must be why they're so energetic, huh?"

"They … don't usually do that," Botan said, scrutinizing the walls through narrowed eyes.

"Just don't trip," Kurama told him. He smiled. "I've heard you're back at work."

"Yeah." Yusuke nodded. "Yeah. I uh…" He smiled. "Sometimes, I'm back at home, too." Quietly, with a subtle shifting of his features, Kurama communicated his approval.

Botan was less quiet. "Well bravo, Yusuke—Now don't mess it up again—!" She stopped short, slid her gaze over toward Kurama. "Um…"

"Hm?" the Fox sighed evenly. A vine that draped down onto the bed twitched, slid over his pillow and across what little lap he still had.

"I don't mean to," Yusuke said, glaring at the ferry-girl. He looked back at Kurama. "I don't suppose you need a boost at all?"

Kurama made another "Hm"-ing sigh. "I might," he said, moving aside some folders so that Yusuke might sit.

As soon as the other man did and wrapped his arms around Kurama, he noticed how poised his body felt. "Relax," he said, loosening his hold a little anyhow in case Kurama was uncomfortable. He felt Kurama's back press against him as the redhead shifted; felt his body inhale deeply; he even felt movement in, energy coming from the compact swell in his friend's abdomen. He tried to, imagined that he felt his energy flowing into, mingling with Kurama's seeping deeper into that hybrid body, coursing in and out of that hybrid child—

Kurama, usually so sedate whenever anyone did this, tensed in Yusuke's arms. He loosened his hold more. "Am I hurting you?" he asked, and then he winced—a vine had wound round his thigh too tight.

"I'm fine," Kurama said, though there was a change in his voice. He looked over at Botan. "Would you locate Hiei for me?"

"Sure," she said, easily hopping off the bed.

Kurama watched her move. "I envy your mobility," he told her with a small self-deprecating smile. She laughed, then left.

"He's—" Yusuke had begun, but Botan was already gone. He looked down at Kurama. "You sure you're okay?" Kurama sounded, felt alert. "Are you waiting on something?" Was there something Hiei was supposed to bring?

At his inquiry the Fox shifted some more. He sat up and gathered up the papers he'd been working on, stacked them out of the way on the bedside table. "A hole opened in me," he told Yusuke, "early this week. I've been waiting on something for a day and a half, approximately."

Brow furrowed, Yusuke repeated, "'A hole'? What, you mean like a wound, or—?"

Realization struck him, and now he tensed. Again Kurama shifted, so he made his body relax.

"My purpose in inviting you here on this occasion," Kurama said, "was because I anticipated your desire to be present at the time that I give birth."

Yusuke took a breath, took care not to flex and thus tighten his hold on Kurama again. "And that would be sometime soon, Fox-boy?"

"It would," answered Kurama calmly.

Suddenly Yusuke was aware of the pulsating walls, floor, ceiling. Kurama had converted the energy supplemented by powerful donors into a fortress of a thicket, an external vegetative, protective womb. "Very soon, huh?" he muttered, scrutinizing individual leaves curling and unfurling on individual vines. "Is this your security system, then?"

"If required, it could be." Kurama shifted so that Yusuke served more as a backrest. "I intended it as a reservoir, though—a vein of potent energy easily accessible, if I need it." Casually he cupped his hands round Yusuke's and brought them back to center on his lower abdomen. "I want an abundance of energy at my disposal, for the delivery and the recuperation, for the child and myself."

His grip on Yusuke's hands had tightened. Yusuke reciprocated. "You hurting, Fox-boy?" The conglomerate of red waves in front of him bobbed this way and that as Kurama shook his head No. "You scared at all?"

Softly Kurama replied, "I am anxious, Yusuke. I've never been on this end of a birth before."

Yusuke wondered if Kurama remembered his human birth, remembered the time in between, after planting his wounded spirit in the fetal form that would become Shuichi, leading up to that birth. He thought about asking the Fox, but then caught himself wondering: Did demons remember? And would Kurama's child, as that of a demon, remember? And what about the time before?

The sudden prominence of Kurama's shoulder blade against his sternum informed Yusuke that he'd tightened his hold too much. "Sorry," he murmured, loosening his hold, reining this thought and directing his focus instead alongside the energy being fed into Kurama.

His focus broke, though, when that same shoulder blade forced itself against his sternum, when the hands he held dug their nails into his palms, and the energy—the energies—that had waited like sponges at the bottom of the well into which his energy flowed, constricted—literally, Yusuke envisioned two sponges, one large and one small, suddenly, tightly wringing themselves out, and immediately soaking their contents back up. "You okay?" he repeated.

"Of course," Kurama answered. His voice was clipped. "This is natural. Birth is natural. Even male birth, in some species … not the human species, but then my humanity, my physical humanity, is largely a façade, and I am birthing a demon, yet in another sense I have birthed thousands, millions of plants, and…"

He exhaled deeply. "And I am rambling. And right now, I wish I could shrink this child down to its seed, extract and regrow it on the outside like gods and scientists do. Right now I want Inari or Koenma or Yomi or Mukur_ohh_—" Shoulder blade in the sternum; Kurama was trembling lightly. "I'm okay," he repeated before Yusuke could ask again. "I'm okay…"

He was rambling, and repeating himself. "It's okay if you're not okay," Yusuke told him, sincere but uncertain. If what Kurama said was going to happen soon was going to happen soon, the Fox was doing himself no favors trying to self-contain himself to the point of psyching himself out. On the other hand, if Kurama _did_ let loose his fears, Yusuke for one wasn't sure what he had to offer in assurance, aside from what Kurama was already utilizing: words that weighted their optimistic substance in hope foremost, and little else.

"I'm okay," Kurama said again, moving his legs uncomfortably. His water hadn't broken yet, but he'd altered his dress accordingly since the first spots of blood had appeared in his underwear earlier in the week. When the child decided to come, his attire was at least ready. He shifted more, tensing and relaxing his muscles in an attempt to eliminate the involuntary and unwelcome trembling. Switch it up: "I'm fine." Repetition took out what little truth nourished the deception.

Yusuke concentrated on pouring his energy, his strength, into Kurama, hoping that if it was a superfluity for the Fox's body that maybe it'd do something substantial for his nerves. "Do you need anything?" Maybe he wasn't a god and maybe he flunked biology and never got to chem., but if Kurama was thirsty he sure as hell could smash up some ice for the poor guy.

"I…" Kurama fidgeted. "I need to move."

"You'll wear yourself out," Yusuke protested.

"I'm not as fragile as you presuppose," Kurama countered, voice splintered with irritation. "Do not do me the dishonor of that presupposition. I'm tense; I want to wind down. _Help me up_."

Quickly, but carefully, Yusuke detached himself from the Kitsune. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, and extended his hand.

Kurama took the offered hand with his own, running his other hand through his hair, gathering it off either shoulder so that it fell straight down his back. "You'd be the wrong person to ask for a hair tie," he said to Yusuke.

The brunet laughed. "Calling me messy?" Kurama smiled a little and began to pace, slowly. Yusuke watched his bare, swollen feet tread up and down the floor he'd made to resemble a forest's. A new plant germinated nearby, growing in quick, lurching spurts, tender stems shooting out and off into whichever direction.

Yusuke stopped watching when Kurama stopped pacing, got to his feet when Kurama moved toward the wall and clutched its textured surface with one hand. "_Kurama?_"

"I'm fine, Yusuke," the Fox affirmed rapidly. "I can't walk during the contractions."

_Can't walk—_"Get back in bed!" Yusuke said, flinging one arm back in that direction.

"I will not," Kurama said, softly but still quickly. He grimaced reassuringly. "Did you know that most children, animal, human, or otherwise, literally drop into this world between their mothers' feet? Most human mothers give birth crouched, not lying, down."

"In the _third world_, maybe."

"Many of my more potent plants from the human world come from the 'third world'," Kurama pointed out with a tight smile. "If you don't believe me, try excreting something yourself while lying down; you'll find it's far less efficient."

"Oh _come_—" Yusuke twisted his face in frustration. "Fine, but if you trip I'll catch you and put you to bed and _no complaints_, got it?"

Kurama's smile loosened a little. "Then it's your job to take care I don't trip."

* * *

A knock.

In answer, wrinkles surfaced across Hiei's brow. His eyes, however, refused to be disturbed, and he tilted his head ever so slightly to one side, until his cheek rested against the underside of his arm. "He's not here!" he called from atop the still-made bed, from over still-packed luggage.

"I'm not looking for Yusuke!" Botan replied.

Now his eyes opened, resentfully; his arms uncrossed behind his head and led the rest of his body upward. Slowly, reluctantly, he made his way to the door, then opened it.

An earnest- and impatient-looking Botan awaited him on the other side. "What?" he demanded.

Before she could utter the first syllable of explanation, something brushed both their feet, and both looked down:

A vine, distinguished by its possession of disproportionately large, fern-shaped leaves that frilled and fanned out like the adornment of a lizard's collar; and by its constant evolution of hue, making Hiei think of a chameleon gone on the fritz.

No doubt what, and whose, jungle the thing came from. "You didn't leave him alone," Hiei said, his tone bearing a slight accusative.

"Yusuke's with him," Botan cleared herself.

"He's close." Again, without the inflection of question.

"Enough that he wants you there."

His eyes closed, only for a second, and reopened with more resolve. They'd have to remain open for a time longer.

They shot open wider, as did Botan's, when both Jaganshi and ferry-girl heard the reverberations of a scream.

* * *

The exclamation was not Kurama's.

"It's okay, Yusuke," the Fox tried assuring his companion. "It's supposed to happen."

Yusuke knew it, but had a little difficulty believing it. Kurama's body had just turned into a geyser, not of blood, as in cases past, but of a clearer substance that Yusuke knew was commonly called the "water." "Are you okay?" he asked, hating the impotence of that overstated question, but lacking anything that would make an adequate substitute.

"It doesn't hurt." Still, Kurama's face bore the slight contortions that betrayed some manner of discomfort. "But if it doesn't disturb you, I'd rather not continue to wear soaked clothes." Awaiting no affirmative or negative, he tugged at the waistband of his pants and bit by bit began to push them down, until either leg pooled stickily around either ankle, and kicked them away amongst the green.

His stripping prompted a momentary shift in balance, and Yusuke in turn shifted for fear that Kurama might topple. When he didn't, Yusuke straightened up, forced a shrug, and feigning indifference tried to joke, "It's nothing I haven't seen before, right?"

As soon as he'd said it, his own face bore the slight contortions that betrayed some manner, a different manner of discomfort. "Uh…" he tried, failed to recover.

Kurama grimaced.

"Sorry," he concluded lamely.

"It's only a contraction," Kurama reasoned, thinking best to spare Yusuke, who was possibly more uncomfortable in the psychological sense than he was in the physical, by pretending that he hadn't heard. He eased himself into a position where his back rested against the side of his and Hiei's bed, and contemplatively massaged his abdomen through the fabric of his tunic. Though it was still winter, his clothing above the waist was already dampened by the light sweat he'd produced. He'd probably strip, or be stripped, down to everything that Yusuke had seen before, and more, fairly soon.

Around them the plants writhed; ahead of them the door opened, and shut, and opened again. Kurama knew that it was Shigure and Mukuro, and knew that Botan and Hiei were not far behind in answering his summons.

"Um, his water broke," Yusuke said when Shigure appeared. The surgeon looked down at Kurama, who gave a slight nod of confirmation, green eyes peering upward from under knotted, downcast red brows, seeming to dare to search for something from either of the two demons standing nearby.

Shigure recognized the gaze first. Metal-distorted lips distorted further as he smirked, though not necessarily at Kurama's expense. "I'll stand by if it makes you feel better," he told Kurama, "but I won't be good for much unless you have to be cut open. Barring any complications, this is mostly a matter up to gravity and yourself."

Kurama, the Fox, the trickster and disguiser, quickly masked the minor disappointment that had forced out the minor hope he'd dared conveyed to the surgeon. "It would make me feel better," was all he conceded.

Yusuke wasn't dense, but no mistaking what the odd eye contact, the exchange between Shigure and Kurama just now confirmed, what Yusuke had suspected but his companion kept negating, or trying to—Kurama was scared.

But would continue to deny it. So rather than try to engage the Kitsune in assuring conversation, Yusuke edged closer, then crouched down to the floor, beside Kurama but not too close to make him feel claustrophobic. He eyed a white-knuckled hand, less than a foot away from his own, and slowly, with tip-toe fingering delicacy, closed the gap between them. When contact was made, rather than shun his touch, Kurama reciprocated with such steel-gripped finger-lacing that for a moment Yusuke envisioned their two hands as the subject of some lattice-work metal piece.

Mukuro had been present in the doorway leading to the bedroom since Shigure's shrugging-off diagnosis, watching and waiting for Kurama to look her way. As soon as he did, she walked over and stood in front of him. He adjusted his footing, raising his body a little as he spread his legs wider, allowing Mukuro to see.

Imploring Mukuro to look; which she did, as she had when the hole appeared between Kurama's legs and since. The hole, which in the beginning had resembled a wound and bled as such, had over the course of its evolution become more feminized, prompting her to say now, "It looks normal."

Kurama nodded, and though his inhalations and exhalations had taken on the semblance of effort, he seemed to actually breathe easier thanks to her pronouncement. Additionally, and in his mind nearly equivalent in importance, the assurance of normalcy (or the closest resemblance possible, given his situation) would enable him to in turn give assurance to those he worried about worrying most: Yusuke, who was gripping his hand tighter than he reciprocated, for one; another—

He started, violently: his eyes seemed suddenly eager to escape their positions designated within his sockets; the grip of his hand contrasted with Yusuke's intensified far beyond reciprocation; his leg muscles felt like applesauce jell-o;— and all these peripheral sensations hardly distracted his foci from the main performance, center stage, within the pelvic region, a gut-wrenching contortionist that gripped him, moved him to voice his exclamations in a sharp, drawn-out cry: "AAAIIIIIII!" he wailed, ears perceiving but not comprehending attempted consolations, eyes squeezed too shut to distinguish who was where.

And yet, somewhere within, some semi-logical remnant of himself feared retribution, his loss of composure in turn begetting similar loss. As though by instinct, he tilted his head back, turned his face to one side, and dared open his eyes and look toward the door expectantly.

There they were, the latecomers Hiei and Botan, the latter visibly sympathetic, the former seemingly frozen in place save for his face, which betrayed the quivers of various and conflicting emotions. They met eye to eye a moment, and the Jaganshi had to look away, as though clearing his mind, before he ventured over.

He pried Kurama's "free" hand loose from various vegetation mauled by the Kitsune's discomfort; green crescents remained lodged under fingernails as he pulled the appendage away. He wrapped it in both his own. "You're almost done," he told Kurama, who stared at him, and yet through him, betraying no indication of comprehension, let alone belief, only impatience and anticipation. "I remember my birth," he added.

Kurama opened his mouth, whether to reply or to rebut, Hiei didn't know; or perhaps simply to vent the shriek that came out, grated into a high-pitched growl as his teeth clenched and his face twisted, seemingly in an inward and spiral fashion. His body tried mimicking this movement, with enough force that both his and Yusuke's previously-hovering bodies collapsed to the ground.

"Hold him," Shigure offered from the doorway, even as Hiei and Yusuke each moved to restore the struggling Fox. In the end they succeeded in holding him braced against the bed, in a position half-squat and half-slumped. He, meanwhile, sporting face and body blotched and blanched simultaneously, and dripping sweat, writhed and shook against the bed and against his assistants, squeezing either proffered hand till the volunteer was more white-knuckled than his own.

Each volunteer twitched as suddenly Kurama made a movement that seemed part-tripping, part-lunging, attempting to cling to and tear free from the demon on either side of him—

"Get it," Shigure said, stepping forward, though Mukuro was closer, and already moved.

"Huh?" Yusuke glanced over, then quickly redirected his attention as Kurama crushed his hand and seemed hell-bent on burying the remains within the mattress.

Not only his hand: Kurama thrashed backward, freezing in a rigid arch against the bed, face pinchedand body trembling. Then he went limp, and released Yusuke's now-discolored hand.

Promptly Yusuke and Hiei looked at each other, and promptly an agreement of gazes was made. Yusuke took one quick look at his hand—the discoloration was only the effect of lacking circulation, not breaking—and went with Mukuro and the wet, red thing in her arms. Something animal penetrated the air.

Hiei remained with Kurama. "I can move you up to the bed," he told the Fox.

"Afterbirth," Kurama negated hoarsely, and began to shudder. Hiei held him, and tried to hold still himself as Shigure now came forward, a knife withdrawn and visible in one hand. Unperturbed, Kurama went on to ask over the squalling, "What is it?"

Yusuke, who had sighted the glint of knife and looked over, no looked back over his, or more directly, Mukuro's charge. "It's, uh…"

"Girl," Mukuro answered, wiping away the last of the concentrated muck with a towel.

"Are you sure?" Yusuke asked, as what he was looking at suggested otherwise.

Mukuro found his focus. "I hope so," she maintained, lifting up the umbilical cord. "Because _this _shrivels up and falls off within a week."

Across the room Hiei rolled his eyes. Kurama chuckled weakly, then closed his eyes, leaned back and groaned. Something that Hiei thought resembled a gelatinous liver fell to the vegetative carpet.

"Eat that for nutrients," Shigure said. Hiei curled his lip in a light snarl at the joke. He supported Kurama, steered him onto the bed.

Suddenly he heard an odd sound, a cross between a slurp and a pop, and looked around.

"The floor," Kurama murmured. Hiei looked down.

Stared down: at the apparent absorption of the gelatinous red blob by the thick, ropy cords of vine and stem that had colonized their floor. It made a squelching sound as the plants' pores sucked it in and it colored their fibers an almost maroon color.

Absorbed by the absorption occurring before his eyes, Hiei asked, "Are you going to convert its energy?" thinking of the reservoir of the Makai elite that Kurama had cultivated.

"In a sense." Kurama gave him a weak smile. "That plant has much the texture of asparagus, when steamed."

Hiei continued to stare at the transformation on the floor—then blinked, and in turn stared at Kurama when he processed that the tone with which the redhead had delivered that information was not so much that of a statement as it was that of a _request_.

Meanwhile Yusuke continued to scrutinize the new child. "Her eyes are blue," he said, or from the inflection in his voice, asked.

"Most children's are, to begin with," Kurama murmured from the bed. "Their eyes change color, and their hair falls out." He paused. "If they have any," he added. Weakly he propped himself up—he'd yet to see his child. Mukuro, noticing and correctly interpreting his movement, remedied this, passing the swaddled creature to the bedded mother.

With shift in newborn came shift in Yusuke, whose focus on the baby diverted long enough to appraise his exhausted friend. "How you feeling?"

Tiredly Kurama smiled. "It's a mere passing of a life form through a small hole in my body," he replied quasi-humorously, lying back and losing himself in the idle fondling of the sticky, slightly misshapen head of the creature that clung to him along his sternum. Suddenly he twitched, struck by what he had just said. Something had just passed out of him—a hole—a void! Momentarily his eyes stung; he blinked the prickling away, turned his head to one side, and familiarized himself with the make and scale of his daughter's fingers in relation to his own.

"Do you have a name, Fox-boy?"

"Hm?" Kurama turned his head enough so that he could meet Yusuke's curious gaze. "I'm thinking."

Yusuke squinted. "You don't have a _name?_"

Another tired smile. "I have a name," he replied. "It's Kurama. Hers will be something, soon." Yusuke's face showed protest. "She's only born. Only for now is she nameless."

The unnamed _she_ became more vocal. "She's hungry," Hiei said. Kurama nodded in agreement.

"Huh?-_No_, you did not just agree to naming her 'Hungry,' Kurama, you don't have the excuse of being hopped up on pain pills!"

"Neither do you, idiot," Hiei retorted. "I'll rephrase it for your birth**-**addledmind: she wants nourishment."

Yusuke tapped back into reality. Brows furrowed as he clarified, "From him?" _Him_, referring to Kurama.

The Kitsune, whose complexion had begun to stabilize a little, rabidly colored again. "Yes," he conceded, debating with himself whether that was wholly factual since what would provide the nourishment was also part of what rendered _him_, _her_.

Before the second gradient change in Kurama's cheeks, Hiei had already moved to clear the room. Strolling up to Mukuro, he smirked into the makeshift mid-wife's face, and jovially (or as jovially as could be achieved, pertaining to Hiei) told her, "Get out." Returning the smirk, she complied and left, followed by Shigure, who eased up off the doorframe once Hiei looked that way and tapped his fingers against his headband—figuratively giving the surgeon the evil eye.

"You too," Hiei threw without even looking Botan's way.

"What? Remember that I'm the communicator between you guys and Human World!"

"You _have _the communicator," corrected Hiei, unimpressed.

She ignored his lack of appreciation via a roll of the eyes. "But what I am supposed to tell _the family?_"

Kurama's family. His, too—the child currently trying to burrow through Kurama's half-buttoned shirt was soon destined to be his sister, legally.

He shuddered. Humans. "It's a girl," he advised Botan. "Kurama's fine. More soon. Get out."

The ferry-girl dawdled. "What do I tell Koenma about—?"

"OUT!" Hiei corrected her, extending a finger for emphasis. "Births aren't an official concern of the Prince of Death. We'll deal with paper fabrication later."

"Yes we will," Kurama confirmed softly from the bed.

This legitimized Hiei's claim in Botan's eyes. "Fine," she gave, then paused on the threshold. Hiei glared. "Can I just work at the coffee table or something? I don't have actual quarters here."

"Fine—_Go_." Hiei closed the door behind her.

He turned. Yusuke stood uncertainly. Hiei considered him, then half-shrugged, and joined Kurama on the other side of the bed. "Better now?" he asked, eyeing Fox and babe curiously.

"Yes, but I'd prefer that you didn't watch." Kurama was getting out of his shirt.

Now it was the Jaganshi who rolled his eyes. "What should I be doing, then?"

"I'm starving," was the only answer the Kitsune gave, all the answer he needed to give.

Instantly Yusuke was on his feet. "I can cook."

"Cook something for yourself as well," Kurama murmured after hi. Regardless of whether he was back at work and back at home sometimes, Yusuke still looked more diminished than he did in Kurama's prelapsarian memory.

Hiei was engrossed with the floor again. "That thing," he said, referring to the ensanguined plant that Kurama had likened to asparagus. "How long does it retainits potency?"

Little smile. Hiei countered it with a suspicious gaze. "Like most food, it's best fresh." Suspicious became challenging. "I'd like that and scrambled eggs," Kurama rejoined. "You and Yusuke can split up who cooks what."

Challenging became aggrieved, then resigned. Kurama shifted the newborn hybrid so that her head rested against his chest, while Hiei went off in search of a knife.

Obviously Kurama was okay, if he was throwing Hiei's own egg metaphor back at him again.


End file.
